


Today

by GrotBag



Series: Following On [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: A lot less fluff as this continues, Angst, Blood and Gore, Canon Compliant, Drunken Shenanigans, Entrapdak, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Graphic Violence, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Post-She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) Season 5, Redemption, Smut, To Be Continued, catradora, potential for character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:07:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrotBag/pseuds/GrotBag
Summary: When you just need a little more.Etheria celebrates the end of Horde Prime and the balance is restored.Today is today, but tomorrow still looms.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Series: Following On [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031346
Comments: 17
Kudos: 52





	1. Today

The end.

As the four of them lay there looking up at their perfect sky, enjoying the dancing patterns of magic glowing around them they let out a contented, group sigh, then laughed. Then Glimmer groaned.  
“Okay, this is perfect but I need to get to work.”  
“What?” cried Bow, turning to her, “You’ve just defeated the evil Horde empire and saved Etheria, you need to rest!”  
Glimmer turned to him and smiled, she reached out and cupped his face gently.  
“Yes but there is work to be done, and I am Queen.”  
“What work?” purred Catra, leaning up a little from her claimed spot on Adora’s shoulder, “I thought we were going to celebrate!”  
“Oh yeah!” said Adora eagerly, looking up at Catra, “I could really go for some cake.”  
“Is cake really all you’re thinking about..?”  
“Well, yeah, I mean what else do you do at parties?” asked Adora, earning her a slow eyebrow raise from Catra. “Wha..? Oh. Oh!”  
“Guys!” interrupted Glimmer, “There’ll be plenty of time for...” she paused shooting a quick nervous glance at Bow before continuing, “well, everything. But later. For now there’s so much to do.”  
“Like what?” asked Adora.  
“Well for a start, there’s the wounded. There’s an army of attack robots just littered around Etheria and in ships all around us. There’s refugees all around our world displaced by the war. There’s the wreck of Salineas and countless towns and cities. There’s hundreds of newly awoken clones, and who knows what they’re thinking. People need action, and direction.”  
There was a brief silence as Adora, Catra and Bow digested Glimmers words.  
“Wow, Sparkles, you really know how to bring down the mood… But you’re right. How can we help?”  
“You want to help?” teased Adora as she clambered to her feet, pulling Catra up with her.  
Catra scowled but let it slide quickly, giving Adora a light shove, “New leaf and all...”  
Bow and Glimmer turned to each other, rolling their eyes, but smiling. Despite the tasks ahead they all felt, light, giddy, happy.  
“Bow, can you go to the nearest town and set up a field hospital please? Gather some healers and other volunteers. I’m going to get some of the others and start teleporting the wounded there. Adora, Catra, could you two find Entrapta and see if you can persuade her to take the bots offline, tell her she can keep them or something if she can make them safe but keep an eye on her. And on Hordak actually, I… think he’s okay, but… you know.”  
“We’re on it!” said Adora, grabbing Catra by the hand and marching off across the emerald green grass. Bow watched them and then turned, looking down at Glimmer warmly.  
“What about the clones?” he asked.  
“I, I don’t know. I think we can help them, but not right now. Maybe I can talk to them or something? The party will be a good opportunity. I’ll get the other princesses to start setting things up. People need a celebration. We should get moving though.”  
She smiled and reached up once more to Bows face before teleporting them away, to work. 

Party planners. 

The air shimmered nearby and Scoripa looked up to see Glimmer appearing next to her. She was kneeling next to a fallen Etherian warrior. He had been hit by some falling rock and his leg was trapped, but he was in good spirits as he chatted excitedly to Scoripa as she gently lifted the rocks away from him. His eyes danced as he looked up at the immense, tree covered spaceship above them.  
“Queen Glimmer!” exclaimed Scoripa, tossing the rock to the side. “Good to see you! Gent here is one of the last, everyone’s been well looked after over at Thane.”  
“Oh that’s brilliant! I’ll take him now, but wait here, I need to talk to you,” said Glimmer quickly before touching the man on the head and teleporting them away, a faint yelp from Gent quickly fading. Scorpia sighed contentedly, looking around her, pincers on hips. She smiled as she saw Perfuma in the distance, healing the trunk of a broken tree. It straightened before her and rapidly bloomed. Perfuma leapt back clapping and caught Scorpia’s eye, smiling. Scorpia was waving back when Glimmer reappeared. She grabbed Scoripa by the pincers beaming.  
“Scoripa I need your help!”  
“Of course! What is it? More wounded? Anything!”  
“No, no, that’s most of them now, we’re on it.” replied Glimmer. “I need you to throw a party. Here. The greatest party that Etheria has ever seen. We need food, drink, music. This is a night to remember for the rest of our lives. The night we rid the universe of Horde Prime for good!”  
Scoripa drew back, looking worried. “Oh no… I couldn’t. Well, I’ve only ever really been to one party, and that wasn’t really a party, you see Catra...”  
“Scoripa,” Glimmer interrupted, “I know you can do this! Get some help if you need, but trust me, you can do this.” She teleported away before Scorpia could respond.  
She let out a huge sigh. “Okay, come on Scoripa, you got this. Party planner. Easy...” she trailed off doubtfully, then, catching sight of Perfuma again she started forward. She needed a team. 

Perfuma was delighted. “Of course I’ll help you! What do we need? Oh! I’ll do décor! Not that this place needs it, look how beautiful it is!” She sighed happily, clasping her hands together and looking around. It was indeed beautiful. Plants and grass snaked over the landscape, previously sharp, jutting rocks had now become soft, rounded and cushiony. Where prior there had been straggly trees, forcing their way out of fissures, now stood broad, strong trunks and boughs weighed down with foliage and fruit. Animals and birds flitted between thick bushes and insects poked their faces into large flowers, bursting with pollen.  
Scorpia stood next to Perfuma, looking out at the landscape with her. She hesitated, worry flickering across her face and she raised a pincer, scratching the back of her head nervously.  
“The thing is,” she started, “I’m no good at this. The Horde never had parties, I’m worried I’ll let everyone down...”  
Perfuma smiled up at her friend and took her pincer gently, clasping it with both hands warmly.  
“Nonsense,” she said, encouragingly, “It will be perfect, no matter what. Just think, what type of things would you like to see there? Start there and carry on.”  
“Well… Glimmer said… What did she say? Oh! Food, drink and music. Is that right?”  
Perfuma smiled at her fondly, “That sounds good to me. Hey, lets ask Mermista to help too, I saw her just over there.” She headed over to where Mermista was sitting, perched on a rock with Seahawk. They looked up, hearing them approach. Mermista quickly raised her head and shuffled slightly away from Seahawk, on whom she had been leaning.  
“Oh hey Mermista, how are you feeling?” asked Scoripia.  
“A lot better than a few hours ago,” she replied, stretching her arms and rubbing the back of her neck.  
“Oh great! Then you can help us!”  
Mermista scowled, “Urghhh. I just got freed from a chip that was controlled by an evil space emperor that made me attack all my friends and planet.”  
Scoripa looked crestfallen, “Oh yeah… I’m sorry… It was just for the party...”  
Mermista raised an eyebrow, “Okay. Now that I can do. We need booze. Seahawk?”  
Seahawk leapt to his feet. “Just point me to the nearest port and I’ll have this place flooded with rum! No pun intended” He added with a cheeky wink to Mermista.  
“You’re a pirate and you don’t even know where the port is...” groaned Mermista, “It’s that way.”  
She pointed off into the distance while holding her head in one hand. Seahawk beamed and made a half bow towards her.  
“I’ll be there and back before my sweet Mermista even has time to miss me!”  
“You have a while then.” But Seahawk was already trotting off away from them, with a parting cry of, “Party! Adventure!”  
“Well… That’s that sorted then. But what about everything else?” asked Scorpia. The others looked at her expectantly, and she nervously scratched the back of her head. “I can’t cook. Like at all. Woah boy. There was this one time me and Rogelio-”  
“Scorpia,” said Perfuma kindly, “What can you do?”  
“I… I can get word to the towns. Tell everyone to bring something to share. Then I can... hang some lights. We’ll need some lights! And Perfuma, maybe you can find Frosta and make this place look good? You guys are great at that. And maybe… Mermista, can you find music?”  
Mermista raised her eyebrows, “Errr I guess? Don’t you want me to make a lake? Boat parties are the best.”  
“Oh!” cried Scorpia, eyes shining, “You can have parties on a boat?!”  
“Maybe,” interjected Perfuma, “Maybe flooding this place isn’t the best idea, especially after… recent events.”  
There was a slight pause.  
“You have a point. I will sort the music.” Mermista stood up from the rock, “I’ll hit all the local taverns and find the best house bands I can muster.” She marched off in the direction of Thane.  
“And some drums,” called Perfuma after her, “Some people might like a drum circle!”  
“‘Some people’, yeah,” replied Mermista without turning, half waving into the air. She strode away.  
“Okay,” said Scorpia nervously, “This is going well! I better go, but… I’ll see you back here soon?”  
“You can be sure of it.” smiled Perfuma, “And Scorpia? You should sing tonight too… Linda” Perfuma beamed at the hesitant, surprised look that crossed Scorpia’s face. 

I can KEEP them?!

It took Adora and Catra a while to find Entrapta, but they eventually found themselves standing staring up at Horde Primes huge spire which appeared to be emitting an excited yelling.  
“We should’ve started here really,” said Catra, staring up at the feat of technological brilliance and mastery before them.  
“Yeah. Kinda seems obvious now I think about it,” replied Adora. They started forward.  
Inside they followed the noise to find Hordak standing in front of an open panel in the wall, holding an armful of wires. He looked bemused.  
“Hey Hordak,” said Catra and he turned to face them.  
“Catra,” he replied, “It has been… some time.”  
“It has.”  
The two stared at each other until Adora broke the silence.  
“We kinda need Entrapta, I’m guessing she’s in there?”  
Hordak looked back at the panel as Entrapta’s hair burst out of it, pulling the rest of her through too.  
“This place is amazing!” she said excitedly, eyes sparkling, “Just think of all the things we could learn, the things we could build!”  
“Together we can be unstoppable,” said Hordak staring at Entrapta who was trembling with the prospect. Adora cleared her throat pointedly.  
“In the field of science,” added Hordak quickly with a quick glance at the frowning Adora and Catra. “No, my days of world domination are far behind me, have no fear. I have everything I need right here.”  
“Well… Not that far behind you.” Muttered Catra, but Hordak wasn’t listening. He was looking back at Entrapta who was sitting on her hair, smiling at him.  
“Weeeeeell, not everything,” she said, “We need tools, all my notes are still back at the Fright Zone, there’s your research, Darla, some power, a lab and there’s some stuff on Beast Island I need to go back for but… Basically, yes.”  
“Anyway...” cut in Adora. “Entrapta, we need your help with something. Can you take Horde Primes bots offline? You know, make sure they’re not gonna go all… shooty again.”  
Entrapta looked at her blankly.  
“You know,” said Adora, “pew, pew.” She mimed shooting with finger guns.  
“I can block any signal coming to them, and shut them down. Of course, they can be brought back online individually, but that would require a physical reboot. I can shut down any signal between them too if that’s what you want but the hive mind ended when She Ra got rid of Horde Prime,” she paused, glancing at Hordak, who nodded once, “so really they wont do anything by themselves since they don’t have a command centre any more. But I can block it all off if it makes you feel better?”  
Adora stared at her blankly for a second before saying, “Yes, do that.”  
“Okay!” said Entrapta, swinging herself across the room by her hair, “I should be able to do it from my computer, Bow left it here earlier. It’ll be easy after hacking into all the chips.”  
She lowered herself down in front of the screens and began tapping away frantically.  
“Aaaand. Done! They wont ‘pew pew’ any more. Unless you want them to?” She looked up at Adora expectantly.  
“No! No, Entrapta, that’s okay. Thank you. We, er, we need to go and help the others, but I’ll see you at the party later?”  
Entrapta gasped, “There’s a party later? Will there be tiny foooood?”  
“Yes,” sighed Adora, “There will be tiny food.”  
“Yay!”  
There was a pause, before Adora started again.  
“You come too… Hordak. I felt him… At the end. I, I know that wasn’t you.” she finished, looking up into Hordak’s green eyes. Hordak bowed his head.  
“Thank you, Adora.”  
She smiled briefly, then glanced at Catra. “We should go.”  
As they turned to leave Adora called back over her shoulder to Entrapta, “Oh and Glimmer said once the bots are offline you can keep them, just don’t go trying to kill us with them again-”  
“I can KEEP them?!”

Brothers.

“Brothers! Hear me now. I have been where you stand at this moment. I know that pain, that confusion, that… loss. But what I offer you today is hope. Because that loss may feel so sharp now, but it is actually the opposite! You may have lost a network of brotherhood, of direction but what you have gained is far more. Choice, freedom, opportunity. In short- autonomy! I bid you, cast off the remnants of Horde Primes influence and seek your own path. There is so much good we can do in this world and others. It is a path you must now walk for yourself, but it doesn’t have to be alone! That firm voice in your head can be the guiding hand of a friend, or of your own heart. I bid you, brothers! Look inside yourself and see what it is you truly desire. When I first awoke I wept and wept. But now I have made a name for myself. And will continue to do so. We were made in Horde Primes image but the moment we were born we had our own life, our own experiences which shape us more than any false voice in our heads will ever do. The moment you took your first breath you were no longer a part of him, but your own person. A clone, yes, but not him. You.  
Look deep into your heart and ask, were my choices my own? My desires? You submitted to a will because that was all you knew, the only path that was laid before you. But I tell you now, it is not! Your choices are infinite. Your. Choices. From this point on the will is your own. But so is the responsibility. Remember that. There can be no other to blame. So pick wisely.”

Catra and Adora walked slowly behind the gaggle of confused clones gathered around Wrong Hordak, who was standing on a small rocky outcrop. The attendant clones all wore similar expressions of attention and worry.  
“I guess that’s… something else we don’t have to worry about?” said Adora, looking over her shoulder at the collected ex-soldiers.  
Catra smiled and pulled Adora around to face her.  
“You know your problem?” she asked with a purr.  
“What?” asked Adora, her brows furrowed.  
“You don’t know when to stop. It’s not your responsibility any more. So just relax! Besides, you already sacrificed yourself to save the world today, so… I think a little break is deserved. Besides. There’s something I want to show you.”  
“What?”  
“Come with me.”

Sanctuary.

Catra led her by the hand into the Whispering Woods. They followed a vague trail until Catra led her off track and deeper into the woods. Out of the darkness a small light glowed ahead of them and Catra followed it, leading Adora behind her.  
In a small clearing stood a small tent, its inside glowed warmly in the shade cast by the trees. Glittering lights laced the frame.  
“When did you have time to do this?” gasped Adora.  
“Oh when you were off with a crowd of adoring fans. I wanted somewhere to keep you for myself.”  
Catra pulled Adora through the flap into the tent and into the glow. It was warm in there. Lights played across the walls of the fabric and in the middle was a chunky sleeping mat and pillows.  
Catra hesitated, “It’s not much, not as good as Bright Moon… But it’s better than the bunks in the Fright Zone.”  
“It’s perfect,” whispered Adora, shyly pulling Catra into a kiss. Catra’s eyes widened then closed, deepening the kiss. Then Adora chuckled.  
“You built a little sanctuary for us.” she lightly punched Catra on the shoulder, who smiled.  
“Well, if you don’t like it I can always...”  
“Come here, you...”

The two cuddled for a long time amongst the cushions, finally having a world of just their own.  
Adora lent over Catra and kissed her again, savouring the moment. Realising she could. Realising Catra would let her, would want her to. Catra kissed her back.  
She stroked down Catras back, feeling her stretch and back into her hand. She ran her hand down the length of her tail, it was soft. She had never felt Catras tail before.  
Catra cupped her hands around the back of Adoras neck, then ran them up into her hair, pulling out her band and releasing that awful hair poof. Catra purred and Adora purred back, allowing Catra to run her hands through her hair, nuzzling into her neck.  
Adora let her hands to rest on Catras hip, stroking it in small circles, getting closer. Catras breath caught then quickened.  
“We had all that time,” Catra breathed. “Why didn’t we...”  
“We are now,” said Adora, slipping her hand into Catras waistband.  
She felt along her. Relishing in the closeness. She was soft. Warm.  
“Come on. I’ve waited enough,” growled Catra in her ear. Adora felt her tongue licking up her neck and up to her lobe.  
Adora let her fingers slide into Catra who tensed then relaxed, letting out a long hiss of air. Adora began stroking inside her, using her thumb to tease her clit. Catra mewled and Adora quickened her pace, holding Catra tightly to her with her other arm, fingers rubbing into her back. Catra held her close too, allowing her claws to drag gently across her back then up under her shirt.  
Adora was gentle, not wanting Catra to be scared away, but Catra growled, letting her claws dig a little further as she began grinding, hard, against Adora. Adora explored, deeper, keeping her pace, feeling Catra quiver against her. She gasped herself, pushing herself against Catra. Catra squeezed her eyes shut, breath gasping, her teeth sinking gently into Adoras neck. Adora drove in, deeper, harder.  
Catra bucked a few times then let out a gasp. She held Adora close, claws digging in uncomfortably. Her breathing slowed and she opened her eyes, looking up at Adora wide eyes, cheeks flushed.  
Adora looked down at her, never breaking her gaze and slowly removed her fingers from inside Catra. She shuddered as they came out and the fur on her back stood on end.  
Catra kissed her hard. Holding her whole body against Adoras.  
“I think we should try that again. To make sure you know?”  
“You’re not sure?” grinned Adora.  
Catra shrugged. “Maybe the other you isn’t so sure?” She raised an eyebrow.  
“For the honour of Greyskull,” whispered Adora.

New Princess.

It was truly twilight when Adora and Catra left their tent, hand in hand, following the sound of music. Light glowed between the trees and they stepped out into the valley where they had nearly met their worlds end.  
The view was vastly altered.  
Coloured light glittered everywhere. From the magic that tingled the air but mostly from the threads of glowing lights stringing the valley from end to end. Music hit their ears from a vast cacophony of voices and instruments dotted about amongst the crowd. Tables groaned under the weight of a feast prepared by hands all across Etheria. Barrels of drink stood, flowing or waiting to be tapped. The plants and trees bloomed, flowers blooming with radiant colour, occasionally shaking their petals down upon those below. Hanging from a cliff a mess of vines wove themselves into the shape of a sword. Hulking ice statues dotted the gathering; a monumental She Ra swore at a headless Horde Prime, an ice arrow speared the heart of a Horde bot, a gentle snow rained down on a huge tree, and in the centre, a huge icy representation of Etheria itself dominated. The babble of voices hit them most. The voices of the Etherians. The voices of their friends.  
Slowly they walked into the crowd. Faces turned towards them warmly, welcoming, whispering ‘She Ra’, ‘She saved us’, ‘That’s She Ra!’. They continued onwards until they were accosted by familiar faces.  
“Adora! Catra!” yelled Bow, as he launched in to pull them into a hug. “The Best Friend Squad parties!” He raised a drink above his head, grinning at them both.  
“He’s had a few,” smiled Glimmer, leaning in and putting a hand on Bows chest. He gazed down at her adoringly.  
“How did… How did you guys pull this off?” asked Adora, gasping, “We weren’t gone that long.”  
“Suuuuuure.” said Glimmer. “But it was all Scorpia, really.” From the crowd surging around them she seemed to summon Scorpia to them.  
“Ohhh…” said Scorpia, “I had a lot of help. I couldn’t have done it alone. I’m not a leader like you.”  
“You think I do things alone?” asked Glimmer, “Or She Ra? We always have help. We always have our friends at our side.”  
Adora smiled at her and the two grasped hands.  
“You’ll see for yourself soon anyway,” said Adora.  
“What do you mean? This is my one and only party guys, really.” said Scorpia.  
“Well…” said Glimmer, grinning up at her, “You have your own kingdom to run now.”  
“What? Nooooo, I’m just a soldier, I mean, not any more, I don’t know what I’m gonna do now, I haven’t decided but I’m not-”  
“The Fright Zone,” interrupted Adora, “Or whatever you want to call it now. It’s rightfully your kingdom. And I think you’ll do a much better job than its… previous tenants.”  
Scorpia gasped eyes wide. She glanced at Glimmer, who nodded, encouragingly.  
“You’re a Princess, Scorpia. It’s time you claimed back your kingdom.”  
“But… Scorpions, we never...”  
“To Princess Scorpia!” yelled Bow. The crowd around them cheered and raised their tankards.  
Scorpia blushed a deeper red than her exoskeleton.  
“You guys.” she wept, drawing them into a crushing hug. 

People Watching.

“Fascinating,” said Entrapta, surveying the scene around them. “The addition of joy, and alcohol means severely lowered inhibitions.”  
“You’re not feeling it yourself?” asked Hordak, watching a clone in his stumbling conversation with a knot of wary but warm Etherians, he raised his brow.  
“Well, objectively speaking, yes, ohhh this is such a great vantage point for observation!” She clasped her hair together, wringing it, eyes sparkling at the sights around her.  
“And… Subjectively?”  
Entrapta paused, then looked up at Hordak, hitting him with the full force of her gaze.  
“Subjectively, I like having someone to look at things objectively with me.”  
“I… I like that too.”  
“I know you do.”  
She held his arm tightly with her hair.  
“Oh look there’s the princesses! Hi Princesses!” she called, raising her voice.  
“Urghhh. Hi Geek Princess. Don’t you know our names by now?” asked Mermista, approaching, followed by Seahawk, Netossa, Spinarella, Perfuma, Scorpia and Swift Wind.  
“And we’re not all princesses,” added Swift Wind, “I, am a being of my own, the kicker down of stable doors, I am She Ra’s mighty steed, we have a sacred bond, I-” he paused retching, then vomited, “I...” he spluttered, “might have had too much ale. I’m going to go lie… down.”  
“Okay! Bye Bird Horse!” cried Entrapta, watching him go as Spinarella and Mermista stepped away from his pool of vomit.  
“Lets go over there. Away from… that.” said Netossa motioning to the pile of vomit.  
“And away from a fallen brother of ‘boys night?’ Never!” declared Seahawk. “I will transport my comrade away! No man… or horse left behind! Swift Wind! With you!” Seahawk quickly followed Swift Wind, grabbing him under the wing and steering him through the crowd.  
“Totally… totally do that. Hurry back.” said Mermista sarcastically.  
“Is Bird Horse alright?” asked Entrapta.  
“Swift Wind is fine.” responded Netossa. “But thanks for your concern, you two.” She glared pointedly at Entrapta and Hordak.  
“Nets...” whispered Spinarella.  
“No, Spinny. It’s wrong. Why is he here? Am I the only one that remembers that he was, until quite literally, this morning our enemy. Shooting at us. Killing us. Controlling us.” Netossa glared at Hordak. “He made our lives a misery. He is the enemy.”  
Hordak paused for a long time before answering.  
“I cannot ask for your forgiveness because I know it will not be given. It cannot be. I have wronged you, and this planet, and all that dwell within it. I have done so much wrong in my life, I have been misled, but I continued unquestioningly along that path. That is my fault. But since being on this planet, I have… become accustomed to its ways,” he paused, glancing at Entrapta, before looking back into Netossa’s eyes, “no. I have become a part of its ways. I did not realise this for far too long. Etheria grew in my heart and it pushed Horde Prime out. Too little. Too late. I cast away my shadows, but that is not enough. I needed She Ra, and Etheria for that. But I can help. I can help the rebellion reach those far planets which still shiver under his cold domain. We all must start somewhere. Let this be my start. Too late, but still to be utilised.”  
He paused.  
“Under observation of course,” he turned again to Entrapta, “I know we can do something together. But if the chance is not granted, I submit.” He looked up at Netossa again. “I submit to you, to Etheria. Tomorrow I present myself to your council. I… submit to what I’ve felt in myself for a long time. I was too weak. Too proud. Too… I don’t know...”  
Spinerella gripped Netossas hand tightly.  
Netossa sighed.  
“It’s not for any one of us to decide. Tomorrow.”  
“Thank you...” breathed Hordak, he turned to Entrapta who was watching the conversation. “Perhaps I should go.”  
“You don’t have to, Entrapta,” said Spinerella.  
Entrapta smiled sadly, “Hordak is my friend and I missed him.” She turned to him and said excitedly, “anyway you haven’t met Darla yet!”  
Wrapping her hair around his forearm she led him away yelling, “Bye Princesses!” Hordak looked back, locking eyes with Netossa, who returned the look coldly.

Euphoria.

The party raged around them. There appeared to be a representative of every kingdom of Etheria. The music whirled. Scorpia’s lights glowed in changing colours. Bow stumbled a little over some rough ground but Glimmer held his hand tightly, and he didn’t fall.  
“We really did it, didn’t we?” he said, turning to her, eyes shining.  
“We did,” she replied, heart melting despite the amount of times he had said the same words to her already this evening. She squeezed his fingers between hers. “Now,” she continued, “where did Perfuma say this was?”  
“Ummm,” chuckled Bow stupidly, “That way!” He pointed off in a random direction. While Glimmer looked, he planted, a wet sloppy kiss on her cheek.  
“Bow!” she giggled.  
She pecked him back, blushing then led him on, “We should really find them, I’d really like to see Scorpia sing!”  
“Me too,” he said huskily and flung an arm around her neck. Together they stumbled in the rough direction of a stage. Hopefully it was the right one.  
The thrum of music around them was intoxicating and confusing but they found their way, Perfuma loomed out of the darkness, silhouetted by a low fire pit, her attention was focussed on a wedge of roughly erected rock and wood, making a basic stage. She turned at their approach, eyes glittering.  
“Bow! Glimmer! You’re just in time! She’s about to go on!”  
Around the fire, Bow and Glimmer could see the figures of their friends. Netossa, Spinarella, Micah Frosta, Catra, Adora, Mermista, Seahawk, a pale looking Swift Wind, Emily and Wrong Hordak, flanked by a few clones who had jazzed up their all white attire with some colourful paint.  
A figure stepped onto the stage.  
“Alright…. ladies, gentlemen, those in-between and MORE of Etheria! Welcome to the self proclaimed main stage of this party. Because let’s face it, darlings, we have the best acts,” roared Double Trouble, stepping dramatically into the firelight, “For the next act, I’m proud to introduce an artist I’ve had the humble pleasure of playing her debut, although she performed then under a pseudonym! Let’s put our hands, claws, feathers, scales and pincers together for… Scoripa!” There was a loud cheer from the crowd. “And myself on instrumental!” cried Double Trouble to an extra smattering of applause. They stepped to the side of the stage and sat themselves at a piano.  
The opening notes of ‘Sneak’, floated over the audience as a large, shadowy figure stepped tentatively on stage.  
“Sneak, don’t make a sound… sneak, just look around….”  
The crowd erupted with applause, led by Perfuma who had tears of joy in her eyes.  
“I have always been strong, but now my nerves are gone, cos I know I can do it, sing, dance, be a spy, hiding before your very eyes...”  
“Whooooo!” roared Bow, “That’s my friend!”  
“Shhh,” laughed Glimmer.  
Scorpia continued and the crowd was entranced...

“I’m a spyyyyyyy!”  
Finished Scoripa dramatically. There was a pause before the crowd erupted into applause.  
“Oh my goodness,” cried Glimmer, eyes shimmering with tears.  
“Scorpia” cried Perfuma, rushing up to the stage and embracing her.  
“Oh!” laughed Scorpia, hugging her back, lifting her off her feet.  
Perfuma grabbed the microphone.  
“As many of you here may not know but Scorpia here is also a princess!”  
The crowd cheered.  
“So spread the word, because her kingdom, the Fright Zone is now Horde free! So keep your eyes open!” Perfuma cried, offering the mic to Scorpia, and stepping away.  
“Oh! Ugh, yeah. I guess...” she paused, ruffling the back of her head nervously before catching eyes with Perufma and continuing more boldly.  
“Well…. Yeah, you heard it. The Fright Zone was my families kingdom once, I guess now the Hordes gone it’s mine again… But I’d like to start something new.”  
She paused, looking worried.  
“I’d like… And I don’t expect anyone to follow me… But a new land, with prospects. No one is from there any more, so...” she raised her voice slightly, “I’d like a place for people with no place, for those who don’t know where they fit in or belong. I’d like a place for people to start again….” She trailed off. “I’d like to call it the Bright Zone and you’re all welcome.”  
There was a roar from the crowd before the chant was heard over the din.  
“Bright Zone! Bright Zone!”  
The crowd picked Scorpia easily from the stage and carried her, bouncing her above their heads.  
“Bright Zone! Princess Scorpia!”  
Scorpia reached out from the huddle.  
“Perfuma!” She cried. Perfuma gasped with delight and joined the huddle transporting Scorpia away. They clasped hand and pincer. She danced away.  
“Well… I guess that’s a thing….” said Mermista.  
“Awwww,” said Bow, eyes glittering, clashing his hands together. “So cuuuute.”  
“Leave them be,” smirked Catra, sipping from her tankard.  
“You’ve changed your tune, Horde Soldier,” remarked Frosta.  
Catra shrugged, “I’m trying.” She cast a quick half glance at Adora.  
Frosta laughed. “Eew. If you’re all coupling up am I gonna have to take on evil by myself?”  
She tensed her arms, posing with ice fists.  
“Maybe,” smirked Glimmer, but she was drowned out by a couple of clones, also spruced up with bright strips of colour.  
“Princess!” gasped one.  
“You can make ice?” asked another.  
“Yeah! And way more. What do you wanna see horde scum? I can freeze your brains!” said Frosta, moving off to find more space, conjuring a range of different configurations for her hands as they walked.  
A small group was left over. A fast paced tavern folk band had taken the stage after Scorpia.  
“So...” said Micah awkwardly, “Glimmer, I know you probably don’t want your old dad here, but darling, would you have a silly dance with your father? I understand if not but...”  
“Oh dad, of course,” said Glimmer, and she took his hand, dancing to the beat. The others laughed, watching, but slowly joined in, Bow making an odd stomp with an unsteady Swift Wind. Netossa and Spinerella whirling away.  
Seahawk extended a gentle arm to Mermista and when it was accepted her drew her into a spinning trot, bemusing the other dancers in their aggression, bouncing them, none too gently out of the way. Catra and Adora smiled at each other before taking each other in their arms and performing a gentle sidestep, deftly of putting Seahawks spin at its crux. They laughed at the collisions, moving faster. The folk music pounding on as other dancers took up whirling too.  
In Darla.

Darla sat a little outside of Thane. She had been utilised earlier that day for transport across Etheria in lieu of anything faster. Green faced passengers had stumbled out of her doors despite Bows much improved steering. It was dark, but a bright glow struck them as Darla opened her doors and lowered a ramp to emit them after a request from Entrapta.  
“Hello Entrapta,” came Darlas voice from all around them.  
“Darla! This is my friend Hordak. I wanted you two to meet,” said Entrapta, fondly, “say hello!”  
“Hello Hordak,” said Darla, in the same neutral tone.  
“To the ship?” asked Hordak.  
“Yes. Her name is Darla,” replied Entrapta, exasperatedly.  
Hordak paused before saying, “Hello.”  
“Great!” exclaimed Entrapta, “Now that you’re both friends I thought we could-”  
“Entrapta I-” started Hordak.  
She turned to face him, cocking her head to one side in question.  
“I...” he lowered his head, “I thought tonight could be… just us. That is… If you don’t mind.”  
“Darla? Could you give us some privacy please?”  
“I cannot give you privacy as ‘privacy’ is necessitated by a lack of presence, and my physical mass is present. I can, however, set my systems to ‘sleep’ mode. I will require an administrator present for restart.”  
“Thank you Darla! I’ll talk to you tomorrow, good night!” said Entrapta, stroking a section of the wall.  
“Goodbye Entrapta, systems offline.”  
Entrapta smiled calling, “Bye Darla,” and waving a side of her hair at the ship in general before all went quiet.  
“Entrapta… You should not have sided with me back there. Your standing with the Princess Alliance will be compromised.”  
Entrapta turned away, pulling her welding mask over her face.  
“You’re my friend. And so are they. But you’re Hordak.”  
Hordak sighed, staring at her half turned figure.  
“Tomorrow they will decide my fate. Let us… Let us have tonight.”  
He stepped around in front of her then gently reached down and raised her mask, revealing her face. She looked surprised, no one had ever raised her mask but her. She’d have never let them, but she let him. He lowered his face and kissed her softly, hesitantly.  
A look of astonishment, then joy crossed her face before she jumped into his arms using her hair as a launch and wrapped her legs firmly around his waist. She kissed him back, deeply. He caught her, surprised, and blushed slightly. She grinned down at him before hopping to her feet and dragging him off down a corridor.  
“In here!”  
She led him into a small room with a bunk in the middle. The walls were set with numerous cupboards and shelves. A couple of tables had been set up which were burdened with an array of tools, wires, pieces of metal. Some half formed robots twitched. There were some screens and pieces of first ones tech. Some clearly ripped from Darla herself. This could only be Entraptas room during her time on the ship.  
Hordak began examining one of the robots immediately. He poked it. It twitched and sparked.  
“I’ve not finished her yet, but I have so many… Oh I can’t wait to show you Dryl! See I couldn’t bring everything with me when I came to the Fright Zone. Catra said ‘only what’s necessary’. But who knows what will end up necessary?!” Entapta looked at him expectantly.  
“Yes,” he said turning to her slowly. “Who knows...”  
“Hordak...”  
“Entrapta… I…” he growled angrily, smashing his fist on a table. Everything on it jumped and rattled loudly. She waited while he collected himself.  
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I should have trusted in you. I just… I’d like for more time.”  
She laid a hand gently on his shoulder and stepped towards him hesitantly.  
“We have now.”  
She drew him into a kiss, levelling their heights by raising herself onto her hair and backed him into the bunk where he fell backwards. She straddled him, holding him close for a minute, continuing their kiss, before breaking it and leaning back slightly.  
“Entrapta. I’d like to, but I must say. In all my years… This is the first time I...”  
He held her loosely around the waist, her hands both resting on his chest.  
“And… you?” he asked hesitantly.  
“This is my first time with you,” she replied, pulling off her dungarees awkwardly and tossing them aside, straddling him once more, in just a top and underwear.  
Hordak swallowed and began unclipping his white Horde armour, with Entraptas assistance.  
It clattered to the floor.  
She bent forward and they kissed again. Her hair slipped down and stripped his lower half as she gently cupped his face with her hand. He glanced down. She had removed her own too.  
“You are...”  
She stopped his sentence, covering his mouth. She grinned suddenly, narrowing her eyes. With one fluid movement she bound his wrists with her hair and pulled them above him, trapping him there.  
His eyes widened with surprise. She kissed him again, deeply, then lowered herself onto him. They both gasped.  
They stared at each other for a moment before she began moving, slowly, grinding on him. He gulped, flushing. Her hands, using his chest as a support.  
Slowly he began moving back, meeting her thrusts.  
“Entrapta, release me,” he gasped, and she complied.  
He half sat up, grabbing her by the hips and chasing her kiss upwards. They both groaned and sped up, in synch. Faster and faster they went, she held his back tightly. Moving together until, as one, they released. She yelped as he groaned and held her close, burrowing his face in her chest. They slowed to a gentle grind as she stroked his hair, feeling him gasp beneath her.  
They parted slightly and she looked down at him, eyes wide. They kissed, long and slow as they both slumped to their sides, staring into each others eyes. Entrapta glanced away, quickly, and Hordak swept the hair from her eyes before pulling her close. He growled as they embraced, leaving no gaps between their bodies. 

Dregs.

The party had raged most of the night and long into the early hours. Gradually the goers had trickled away, home, or to the rapidly erected tent city, built to accommodate those from further afield. It had been everything they had hoped for. A surge of wild relief and joy at the end of a long and terrible period in their history. The edges of the party had gradually shrunk as its attendance dwindled until finally it centred upon ‘the main stage’.  
Double Trouble had managed to collect together a range of performers over the course of the night and had even performed themselves a couple of times. But now the stage was empty save for a few lounging on or against it. More people were gathered around, most seated; the party was too small now for much mingling and a big loose circle had formed. The fire flickered gently.  
Double Trouble now leant against the stage, nuzzled into the chest of a muscle bound pirate, chatting animatedly to Seahawk. Frosta was curled in a small ball, fast asleep, her head resting on the knee of an equally sleepy looking Perfuma, who’s hand laid gently on her back. Beside her sat Scorpia, the two so close their arms seemed one. Catra and Adora sat near, not touching but Catra’s tail occasionally flicked across Adoras back. Spinerella and Netossa had slinked off into the darkness. Bow and Glimmer had staggered away giggling, Glimmer attempting to teleport them both but laughing too much to concentrate. Mermista and Micah sat with Catra and Adora, all laughing occasionally at Emily rolling around in the grass. Huntara sat with them, still drinking strongly from a tankard. Wrong Hordak was nearby, still surrounded by a small knot of clones, all were brightly splashed with paint, one had commandeered a tricorn hat from somewhere. Swift Wind had long since been put to bed, resting under the canopy of a large tree, first insisting on a tent like everyone else, then deciding he didn’t like it.  
There was many missing from the gathering. People who should have been there but couldn’t be. They remembered their fallen. They celebrated their future. 

Morning.

Bow awoke before Glimmer, he stretched deliciously, their bodies still tangled from the night before. She stirred and blinked a few times, focusing on him.  
“Where are we?”  
“I don’t know,” he laughed, “I hoped you did.”  
Glimmer poked her head out of the tent.  
“We’re in the camp outside Thane. I… hope this is our tent...”  
Bow laughed and pulled her back in an embrace.  
“It is now,” he growled snuggling her close.  
She relaxed against him then tensed.  
“Ohhh there’s so much to do today!”  
He stroked her hair, “But not yet.”  
She turned to him, eyes glowing slightly, “yes… Not yet.”  
He kissed her gently, on the forehead, then the mouth.  
“Bow!” she laughed, “I have morning breath!”  
Bow mocked exasperation.  
“And just how many sleepovers have I had to endure your morning breath?”  
Glimmer paused, “Okay...” She took a breath then kissed him back.  
“I love you Bow.”  
“I love you too, Glimmer.”  
They lay like that for a long time. Glimmers head on Bows shoulder as he held her close. They listened to the sounds of the slowly rousing camp around them but neither moved, savouring the comforting presence of the other, putting off their responsibilities for just a little longer. They were owed a little time.  
“We didn’t… Did we?” asked Glimmer after a while.  
Bow squeezed her gently, “No. We didn’t.”  
“If… If it’s alright with you, I’d like to wait a while,” he continued, “I’m so happy at the moment, with you, but I’d like some time to learn what that means first. How to be together.”  
She sighed, smiling and tightened her grip on his torso.  
“That’s fine by me, Bow.”  
They lay for a long time that morning, warm and cosy against each others bodies. The sounds of the awakening camp gradually grew until they could ignore it no longer. Glancing at each other they shared a long kiss before parting and dressing. Hand in hand they left the tent and into the first full day of their new world.


	2. Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first new day dawns.  
> Decisions must be made about Hordak, and about their futures.

Tomorrow.

Adora awoke with a shock. Somewhere in the camp around them, or in her dreams, a cannon went off. She wasn’t sure. She sat bolt upright. Catra hissed beside her at the jolt, backing into the corner of the tent.  
“What are you doing?” cried Catra, exasperated.  
“I… Thought I heard something,” answered Adora.  
“Don’t you think I’d hear it?” growled Catra, flicking her large ears, “you were dreaming, dummy.”  
The two settled down again, hearts pounding a little.  
“What time is it anyway?”  
Adora looked outside of the tent. She paused, head out of the door way, before withdrawing.  
“Umm.”  
“What. Adora.” said Catra, eyes closed attempting to block the sunlight from her them.  
“It might be pretty late… Most people have gone.”  
“Who cares?” purred Catra, lounging against her pillows again. “Anyways, how can you tell? We’re in the middle of the Whispering Woods. I got us a good pitch.”  
“Well,” said Adora, still sitting in the doorway, “There’s a chain of people walking past with packs and… Melog’s back.”  
“Melog?” cried Catra, pouncing out of the tent and onto the body of the cat. They tussled for a moment or two before Adora stepped out of the tent.  
Catra and Melog paused, staring at her.  
“What?” she asked, annoyed.  
“You err.. You may want to dress,” grinned Catra. Adora looked down and flushed when she realised her outfit lacked bottoms.  
“Just looking out for you,” teased Catra, flicking her tail across Adora’s bare legs as she grinned. Adora darted back into the tent.  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Came the annoyed yell from the tent.  
Catra shrugged and nuzzled into Melog. She had missed it. They played, catching paws, until Adora re emerged from the tent.  
“Took your time...” muttered Catra, but her words were strangled as Adora jumped on her, wrestling her to the ground, Melog easily dislodged Adora with a gentle paw.  
“I see whose side you’re on,” said Adora to Melog.  
Melog yowled.  
“He says he’s glad the loud party is over,” Catra translated.  
“I don’t blame him,” said Adora, laying a gentle hand on Melog’s head and rubbing her own. Melog growled slightly before nuzzling into Adora’s hand. She laughed, crouching and petting it. Catra squated in the doorway of the tent. She caught Adora’s eye.  
“Not jealous are you?” grinned Adora, before springing at Catra, again, not giving her a chance to reply and tackling her through the door of the tent.  
Catra and Melog yowled but Adora laughed, pinning Catra to the floor.  
“Lemme go!” scowled Catra, fighting to get loose.  
“Nope!” cried Adora, but then noticing the struggles, let Catra go and kissed her hard instead.  
She sat back.  
“We should probably go, by the way. There’s a Princess Alliance meeting.”  
Catra scowled.  
“Why me though?”  
“You’re part of this too, so get your butt up, we’re late.”  
Melog tugged at Catra’s shoulder until she relented, “Okay, okay,” she growled, “I’m coming.”

Awakening.

Hordak slowly opened his eyes. He had been dreaming- what had he been dreaming. No. Dreaming was not allowed. Horde Prime- He sat up with a gasp. Around him computers chirped, the hum of electric grew larger and larger… He shook his head and cleared his brain. No. He had his path he- Entrapta sat at a stool before him. She was engaged entirely with the task before her. Her screen bleeped. She frowned and tapped into a keyboard. She adjusted some wires plugging into a piece of Horde Primes tech. He let out a confused splutter and she turned….  
She turned towards him.  
“Hordak! You’re awake!”  
“Ye- No. I am… What meaning is it to you?” he asked, the dream still thick in his mind.  
“Good!” she cried, launching herself across the room by her hair and landing on the bunk, feet narrowly either side of his hips. Her hair braced either side of his face.  
“We have so much to look at today. I’ve already been out and isolated a part of Horde Primes tech and it is like nothing I’ve ever even dreamed of before!”  
She paused for a second, sitting back on her haunches, her hair coming round to tap the side of her face gently.  
“Oh and we have to look at the robots, Glimmer said they were ours, and you have to see this look at the data!” She gestured wildly to the screen behind her. “There’s so much to learn.”  
She leapt away from him, back towards the screens, tapping enthusiastically with her hair onto a keyboard before them.  
Hordak stood up from the bed, a flush of anger flowing through him.  
“I shouldn’t have to, I won’t I… Entrapta!”  
She slowed down, mid task but didn’t stop typing. Her back still to him.  
He blanched.  
“I’m sorry,” he extended a hand, not quite reaching her.  
He slowed, lowering his voice.  
“I’m sorry, I should not have spoken that way with you…. Especially not with you.”  
He extended his hand and she met it, without turning, patting it with her hair.  
“It’s okay. I understand. It’s a big day. Your emotions are lightly to be...”  
She half turned and tapped the ends of her hair together.  
“You know… Lots.”  
Hordak still looked ashamed.  
“I’m sorry, I will prepare alone. You need no part in this.”  
Hordak began dressing, quickly, putting on his discarded clothes from the night before. He roughly kicked away his armour and it clattered across the floor.  
“But I am part of this.”  
He glanced at her then looked away, without meeting her eyes. Sitting on the edge of the bed he began pulling on his boots. When he finished he didn’t move, staring down at the ground. He sighed, a long hissing sound.  
“I just don’t see why I should have to- to debase myself to them. I’ve apologised, I’ve changed my ways, I helped kill Horde Prime, why should I go have to do it all over again while they sit above me in judgement. My life sits in the whims of- of a gang of teenagers.” His voice grew louder and at the last word he smashed his fist into the bunk beneath him.  
“Actually I don’t think they’re tee-”  
“I know!” he roared angrily, “I’m sorry,” he said more gently, catching himself, “I’m angry at myself, not at you.”  
Entrapta looked at the floor, uncomfortably, for a long time before finally opening her mouth to speak.  
“They’re good people, the princesses. They… They gave me a chance even after everything I did to them. They came and got me from Beast Island and they gave me their friendship. Just go and talk to them. Show them. I’ll be there with you, even if it’s… You know. The end.” Her hand hesitated, trembling, about to pull down her welding mask, but she instead forced herself to look into Hordak’s eyes. She reached out and took his hand in hers.  
He looked down at their entwined fingers.  
“You’re right. I must face up to my actions. The blame is with me. And I don’t really believe all that. I just don’t know how they can forgive me, after everything I’ve done...”  
She let him muse for a while before bending quickly and leaving a peck on his cheek. Even after the night before he still looked astonished.  
“Let’s go find out! This requires some field research.”  
She swung herself out of the room, grabbing her recorder from one of the tables as she went. Hordak followed, much more slowly. He turned and looked back at the room, the tables, the twitching robots, the messy bunk...

Discuss.

A large circle of people had gathered. They had all collected outside of Thane, a convenient proximity for all involved.  
It was a sombre setting when compared with the night before. A burnt out fire pit served as the meeting point. The princesses were gathered; Glimmer, Perfuma, Mermista, Scorpia, Frosta, Adora, Spinerella, Netossa and some others among them; Castaspella, Micah, Catra, Melog, Seahawk, Bow, Swift Wind.  
Hordak stood, opposite Glimmer, Entrapta by his side. He looked calm, face expressionless, hands clasped loosely behind his back.  
There was a long pause before Glimmer finally broke the silence.  
“Well,” she said, “I guess we all know why we have to meet today.”  
The princesses nodded silently before the circle.  
“Hordak,” she addressed him, “For a long time you have been an enemy of Etheria. You have led the attacking armies, attempting to conquer and destroy us. You joined the side of Horde Prime when he-”  
“He killed Prime. Or at least tried to. He saved me,” said Entrapta, cutting off Glimmer.  
“Yes,” said Glimmer, exasperated, “I was getting to that. Will you please not interrupt Entrapta?”  
“Well it’s difficult not saying anything when you’re discussing whether or not to kill Hordak!”  
Everyone in the circle looked surprised and looked around at each other, confused.  
“We’re not going to kill Hordak!” said Adora, shocked.  
“Oh!” said Entrapta, much more cheery now, “Then you’ll forgive him then!”  
“Not necessarily!” cried Glimmer, “We haven’t even discussed it yet!”  
“But all your behaviour patterns suggest you will kill him or forgive him. Data never lies!”  
“What?” asked Adora dumbly, “We don’t-”  
Entrapta walked forward and began listing, counting off with her hair as she went.  
“Adora; Horde soldier and force captain. Forgiven. Scorpia; same. Forgiven. Catra; soldier, force captain, nearly destroys the world. Forgiven. Me; building and updating robots to attack you, built a portal to summon Prime. Forgiven. Glimmer; activated the heart of Etheria, nearly destroys the world. Forgiven. Horde Prime; chipped and controlled people, destroyed worlds. Killed.”  
Those mentioned looked uncomfortable as they were listed.  
“Forgiveness. You’re good at that. So you’ll do the same for Hordak.” She finished, smiling happily, looking at Adora and Glimmer.  
There was a silence while they digested this.  
“Well,” said Adora, slowly, “He did switch sides in the end. I was in his head. You can’t lie about that.”  
“But he destroyed Salineas,” growled Mermista.  
“So did I...” said Catra, hesitantly.  
“He was literally their leader!” cried Netossa.  
“Well Horde Prime was more so...” said Bow.  
Around the circle many more voices chipped in becoming lost in the babble.  
“I- I bid you to listen,” started Hordak, cutting off the chatter and cries of the others. “What you say of me is true. Please believe me when I say that I am sorry. It is a mark that you are very strong people indeed that you have chosen not to execute me. I hope to be that way myself, one day. And until that day, I am willing to work. Horde Prime’s word is all I had ever known, but now I’d like to help Etheria in any way I can. Reparations if you will. It is a path I have already started making my short way down, but I’d like to continue. To learn. Entrapta has already taught me so much without even realising, I hope to continue that education, until I gain your trust. Imprison me if necessary, I will not resist.”  
Everyone was silent, digesting his words.  
“You can imprison him in Dryl if you want!” suggested Entrapta brightly. A few people chuckled and Hordak smiled, briefly, despite himself.  
Glimmer sighed, “I think we can all agree, imprisonment does nothing except waste. Wastes time and resources and potential.”  
“Well,” said Perfuma, “We don’t really do it properly...”  
Adora smiled, “That’s true.”  
“I think we should give him a chance. Entrapta was right. We’ve all, well most of us have done stuff we’re… Not proud of.” Catra said, slowly, her eyes lowered in shame, “Me perhaps most of all. But you gave me a chance,” she looked up, meeting their eyes with difficulty. “All of you. Even when it was hard. Even when you hated me. Why stop with me? Hordak has a lot to offer and if he’s as changed as Adora says he is, then why not use that? Trust me,” she chuckled, “as someone who’s worked with him, he’s a lot more interested in science than world domination. It was kinda frustrating actually. But who else here could build as he does? We’re gonna need him, and his knowledge if we’re going to chase our the rest of Horde Primes influence on other planets. I say give him a chance, he already offered his help.”  
She stepped back into her place in the circle, nodding once to Hordak who replied, “Thank you Catra.” She shrugged and settled back, looking a little embarrassed.  
Adora stared hard at her, frowning slightly in thought.  
“Does anyone have a problem with that?” she asked.  
There was some muttering before Netossa stepped forward.  
“I do.” she said firmly. “Sure, use his skills but he should not go unmonitored. Let’s face it, Entrapta is not up to that. He can easily get up anything and she’ll just have her head in some tech, oblivious.”  
“I think she will be just fine. She knows what’s right, don’t you Geek Princess?” smiled Mermista. “Besides, does anyone else actually want to watch him?”  
Most people shook their heads, muttering and Netossa shrugged, worries slightly alleviated. Spinerella took her hand, gently, smiling.  
Glimmer looked round carefully then spoke, “So that’s settled. Hordak, you’re free to do as you please, for the betterment of Etheria. Entrapta will keep an eye on you. But be aware. If you do anything to harm this planet or its citizens again we will crush you.”  
Hordak bowed his head.  
“Thank you… My queen.”

Home.

Glimmer and Bow gathered their few possessions from the tent. After the meeting they had assisted in the clean-up, an operation hindered a little by sore heads. But by the time they were done the area was clean and fresh once more. The ice statues were left to gently melt.  
“How’re you feeling?” asked Bow.  
Glimmer sighed, “Not bad. I think that went well. I’m just looking forward to getting home, to Bright Moon. It’s been so long.”  
Bow smiled and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head gently. She nuzzled into his warmth.  
“Come on,” he said drawing back, “Let’s go find the rest of the best friend squad and your dad!”  
“Ohhh! My dad!” cried Glimmer, “I don’t even know what it’s gonna be like having him back with me.”  
“Relax,” said Bow, “He’s great and he loves you so much. You’ll work it out.”  
“You’re right… Thanks Bow.” She smiled up at him and the two left, hand in hand.  
They found Micah quickly with Swift Wind and the four set off in the direction of Catra and Adora’s tent. Their packing was not going well.  
“How are you so messy? I can’t find anything in here!” cried Adora’s voice through the fabric.  
“Me?! You were the one throwing my clothes around saying I’d never need them again!” yowled Catra.  
Melog hissed outside the tent, his neck fur spiked and red.  
“Umm… Guys.” said Glimmer.  
There was silence within the tent.  
“Umm. Did you hear that?” asked Adora, sticking her head out of the flap in the tent.  
“Umm… No….” said Bow, unconvincingly.  
Glimmer rolled her eyes, “just hurry up.”  
Adora’s head disappeared back into the tent. The sounds of frantic packing could be heard, amongst giggles and hushed whispers.  
The two finally emerged and they all converged on Glimmer. She grinned as she teleported them all, Bright Moon appearing before them. It didn’t look its best, but its walls and many turrets and towers were still standing. The rune stone glowed brightly, almost pulsing with the excess magic in the air.  
“Home,” sighed Glimmer.

Crossroads.

“I’ll miss you Scorpia!” cried Perfuma, hugging new princess close to her. “But I’ll see you very soon.” She smiled up at her, stepping back. Scoripa blushed but smiled back.  
“I know. I can’t wait. I’m just so nervous right now! What if no one comes? What if I have to rebuild the Frigh- Bright Zone myself? I was gonna see if I could find Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio on the way back. I think they’d come, maybe. And they don’t have anywhere at the mo-”  
“Scoripa,” said Perfuma gently, “People will come. You saw them last night. You inspire them! With you, the Bright Zone will be perfect. Besides, I think you already have some subjects.”  
Perfuma nodded over to a small gaggle of clones who were watching Scoripa intently. When she looked over one waved, hesitantly crying, “Bright Zone!”  
“Woah. Boy. I’m nervous.”  
“You’ll be fine,” cut in Seahawk. “Because you’re great and now they know it too.”  
Scorpia teared up and pulled him into a bone cracking hug.  
“You’re great too,” she said, stepping back. “What are you two gonna do now?” she asked, addressing Seahawk and Mermista.  
“Seahawk’s giving me a ride back to Salineas, then he’s going out in his boat to round up the rest of my people. A lot of them fled out to sea when the Horde attacked. They might not even know it’s over yet.”  
“Yes,” said Seahawk nodding, “I’m to spread the word and find everyone I can. I won’t rest until I have returned every last refugee to their rightful place in Salineas!”  
“Do you think it’ll take him a while?” grinned Mermista.  
Seahawk chuckled, oblivious.  
“So, I guess this is it for a while, isn’t it?” asked Perfuma. She turned to Mermista, “if you need any help rebuilding, you have Plumeria at your disposal.”  
“Thanks, Perfuma,” smiled Mermista. “Catra’s offered to help too, and I think I might just enjoy bossing her round for a bit.”  
“And Hordak?”  
“I think Glimmer’s earmarked him and Geek Princess for something else. Something about space.” she shrugged. “I’m glad I’m exempt. Not much water up there… Anyway, we should get going. A lot to do.”  
The four said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Mermista and Seahawk to the port and one of the Dragon’s Daughters, Perfuma into the Whispering Woods, and Scorpia, pack slung across her back, followed by a handful of clones.

Dryl.

“There it is!” shouted Entrapta, pointing excitedly. Darla wobbled around them.  
“Entrapta, you’re steering!” cried Hordak.  
“Oh! Right.” She slipped her hands back onto the controls again. “Darla wouldn’t let us crash anyway.”  
“When autopilot is not engaged, there is a possibility of ‘crashing’.” said Darla’s cool voice around them.  
“See,” said Hordak smugly.  
“You can’t both gang up on me!”  
Entrapta took them into a slightly bumpy landing into the square and they stepped out of the ship, followed by Emily and Wrong Hordak. They drank in the sight of the slightly gloomy looking Crypto Castle set on a small outcrop of rock. There appeared to be no nearby habitations. A thick perimeter wall surrounded them, set with a strong gate. It was devoid of life, the remnants of the Hordes occupation littered the area; crates, boxes, some banners.  
“You really… Value your privacy, don’t you,” asked Hordak, looking around at the fortifications.  
“Brother Entrapta!” gasped Wrong Hordak, horrified, “I did not know the presence of others upset you so! I will leave at once!”  
He turned to go but Emily bleeped at him and Entrapta stopped him, “No. Stay. I- I have friends now. And you’re welcome here as long as you want...”  
“Thank you...”  
“Now come on!” shouted Entrapta, grabbing Hordak’s arm with her hair, “I wanna show you my lab! We should ask Scorpia to send our stuff from the Fright Zone. And Imp!”  
Hordak looked guilty for a moment at the memory of Imp.  
“And watch out for the traps!” she called back over her shoulder to Wrong Hordak as she whizzed through a door, pulling Hordak along with her.

Entrapta’s lab was a little smaller than Hordak’s old one back at the Fright Zone. A lot of her equipment had been moved over there, but some remained. Hordak paused to look around. From the ceiling hung sections of broken or unfinished robots, a bank of screens stood at the far end of the room, piles of boxes containing parts and tools were scattered everywhere, some stacks even reaching the ceiling. She jumped into a seat in front of the screens and booted up her computer.  
“There’s so much to do!” she cried, “But what first?” She began tapping onto a keyboard. “I’m sending out a signal to my bots to come home. I’m sure they’re around here somewhere. Then Glimmer asked us for ships, so we should probably repair Darla. Oh and I want to look at Horde Primes flagship. He had some amaaaaazing stuff on there.”  
She rolled across the room and pushed Hordak back onto a box, he sat, surprised.  
“Oh and there’s something else too. Slightly pressing.” She reached with her hair into her pocket and withdrew her recorder.  
“Day one of Hordak observation. Subject is settled in Dryl and has so far made no attempt to conquer the world.”  
Hordak hissed. “If you are intending to do that everyday I will take my chances with Netossa.”  
“Subject is showing some reluctance at the prospect of observation.”  
While she spoke she pushed him back with a section of her hair, and with her hands began sliding under his tunic.  
“What… What are you doing?” he gasped.  
She gently took hold of his penis and it hardened in her hand.  
“Faaacinating,” she said, lowering her face for a closer look, “I was going to stimulate it. Unless you prefer to do so yourself?”  
She began moving her hand. He hissed again, but this time it was slower. He leant back, gazing at her, eyes wide.  
“No,” he said, “Please, continue. But… Please remove your glove.”  
She complied, removing her thick gloves and her soft hands went back to his penis. He breathed, softly, staring at her with astonishment.  
She gently worked up and down his shaft before moving her attentions to the tip. She watched him as he gasped, his breath quickening. She smiled slightly and continued to stroke him, gradually increasing her pace. Hordak tried to reach out for her but she caught his wrist easily with her hair and pulled it behind him, he struggled but she increased her pace again and he felt a build up tension burst from him. He let out a yell, then lay back, gasping slightly. He felt her release his arms from their restraints and he reached out again to her before stopping in shock.  
“What are you doing?” he asked.  
Entrapta had produced a small test tube and had scooped some of his semen into it. She held it up to the light.  
“I needed a sample.”  
“Why?”  
She turned away, lowering her mask.  
“I need to see if you’re fertile. After last night. We- We weren’t careful.”  
“Oh...” he said softly, “I thought this was… No matter. My mistake. Please, let me know your findings. I will… Go clean up.”  
He swept out of the room, pausing slightly in the doorway to look back at the princess, crouched in front of her computer, she looked so small. He allowed a brief, sad look to cross his face, ears drooping, before smoothing it once more. 

Repairs.

“Ready? One two- Whoops!”  
Adora was standing on a balcony in Bright Moon. They had spent most of the day so far removing any signs of the Horde. She had just been fumbling at the knots of the last huge Horde banner, that had, until seconds ago been tied to the side of the castle.  
“Watch out!” she cried, looking over the balcony. There was a screech from below as Catra had to dive out of the way, avoiding being crushed.  
“Adora you moron!” she yelled angrily.  
“Sorry!”  
“You will be,” came the reply as Catra streaked into the castle. Adora knew she had less than a minute before Catra found her and raced down the corridor into her old room. Eyes flicking around for a hiding spot she dived into a pile of cushions. She laid there, hoping she couldn’t be seen, trying to slow her breathing and heart rate.  
There was an exasperated sigh.  
“You never were good at hiding, were you?”  
Adora shut her eyes, trying to hold back a giggle.  
“I can see your feet.”  
Adora tensed, expecting Catra to haul her out and tackle her, but instead she felt a squirming beside her, and Catra joined her under the cushions, lying on her back.  
“Hey, this isn’t so bad. Tight, but...” Catra shrugged. Adora smiled and wiggled closer, pulling Catra towards her.  
“No one can find us here.”  
Catra rolled her eyes.  
“If you say so.”  
“I do,” said Adora as she bent forward and felt around with her face until she finally found Catra’s mouth. She planted a small kiss there which deepened as Catra caught her round the back of her head and held it there.  
“Soooo...” said Adora, “We’ve essentially done everything Glimmer asked us to.”  
“The banners are down, yes,” grinned Catra.  
“I think we have a little time for...”  
“For?”  
In answer, Adora slipped a finger in Catra’s waistband and teased it along. Catra raised an eyebrow and purred. She began kissing Adora, fiercely, pulling off her clothes, dislodging the top layer of cushions as she did so. They rolled around, gasping, and tugging off their layers, their need growing larger by the second. Finally, Adora pinned Catra down, both fully naked. They took a second to admire the other. Adora’s long hair fell into Catra’s face, tickling her. She looked back into Adora’s eyes and for a second Adora could see a flicker of vulnerability there as she blushed slightly, worried.  
Adora understood. Catra’s defences had been raised so high for so long that this simple act of closeness, of allowing herself to feel, to hope, must take a huge amount of strength. She slowly lowered her face and kissed Catra, gently, trying to pour her understanding into that kiss. Her promise of safety.  
Maybe Catra understood, because she slowly began running her hands down Adora’s back, her claws retracted for once. Matching her crawling pace, Adora responded. She was careful, not wanting to push Catra too far. The adrenaline from the day before had long since worn off. Today felt quieter. More pensive. More intimate.  
Adora slid a finger gently along the curve of Catra’s neck, feeling along her collar bone, then tentatively onto her small breast, circling slowly, closer and closer to her nipple. Catra’s breath hitched then quickened as Adora began to play, gently with the little bud. She nuzzled into Adora’s neck and loosely looped her hands around her neck.  
Catra felt a warmth growing between her legs. She unconsciously eased herself upwards slightly and began to press herself against Adora’s thigh. As the warmth grew she pressed herself harder, moving slightly.  
“Adora,” she whispered, breath tickling Adora’s neck. She pushed her hips more firmly into Adora’s thigh.  
Gently Adora traced her fingers down from Catra’s nipple, pausing to play gently across her tight stomach. She lingered on her hips, delaying the moment a little longer. Catra pressed in harder, letting out a small mewl. Adora leant back slightly staring into Catra’s eyes as she pushed her fingers into Catra. Catra gasped hid her face in Adora’s neck again, her breathing sounding loud, so close to Adora’s ear.  
Carefully, Adora explored further. Catra was warm around her fingers. She slowly began sliding in and out. Catra gripped her tighter, her legs coming up and wrapping themselves around Adora’s waist. After a few strokes Adora moved her thumb and began rubbing Catra’s clit in time to her strokes, circling it, teasing it.  
Catra held on, if possible, even tighter. Her breathing coming out in shorter gasps. She moved her hips, meeting Adora’s strokes. Adora sped up, reaching deeper into Catra’s warmth, gasping herself until she felt Catra trembling beneath her. Catra let out a low moan and crushed Adora to her body. Adora slowed her strokes and slid out, wrapping the her Catra in a warm, tight embrace.  
They held each other close like that for a long time. Adora waiting for Catra’s lead. She held on, face pressed so hard into her neck Adora wondered how she could breathe. Finally Catra adjusted beneath her, pulling Adora round and the two lay face to face, body to body. Catra’s hands between them played with a strand of Adora’s hair. The cushions cocooned them both in a warm embrace.

Paths.

Scorpia had made good progress through the Whispering Woods, followed by the group of clones. There were five of them altogether, all were dressed in their white horde garments, for lack of anything else, but each had customised their clothing in some manner. Paint or the odd accessory from the party. As they walked some had picked flowers or twigs or leaves to adorn themselves.  
Along the way Scorpia regaled them with tales of Etheria, answering their questions with gusto, their child-like curiosity spilling around her. It was a mark of her good and trusting nature that she never once felt at ill ease with those who had, until the previous day, been on the opposing side of a war to her, her time under Primes control excepted.  
As they had walked the subject of names arose, and without any notion of what to call themselves Scorpia suggested a game. They would each take a turn to close their eyes and walk a little way into the woods. Whatever the first thing they touched was known as would serve as their temporary name. Unless they liked it of course. And so Leaf, Web, Stream, Scree and Backpack had opened their eyes for the first time after stumbling around in the dark.

They had set up camp for the night in a clearing, a small warm fire illuminated their faces as they shared a meal of fruit and mushrooms, collected from the woods around them.  
“This is amazing!” gasped Stream, devouring an apple, stalk and all.  
“I’m not so sure...” said Backpack, face twisting and attempting to push the apple from his mouth, sticky dribble trickling down his chin.  
Scorpia chuckled, “I guess there’s differences between you after all.”  
“Tell us about the Bright Zone!” urged Leaf.  
“Again! Well okay, oh boy, I’m excited. It’s not much at the minute but it will be whatever we make it. A new land, new laws, new ways of doing things.” She sighed dreamily. “We’re gonna have to redecorate though. That place was a dump. I’m no good at art though, you guys are gonna have to help on that front!” Scoripa eyed their paint splattered outfits and faces appreciatively.  
“Could you pass the mushrooms please, Web?”  
“Certainly… Scree.”  
They smiled at one another, enjoying the feeling of their names on their tongues and in their ears. Web gently passed a handful of mushrooms to Scree, who dropped one.  
“Whoops!”  
“Allow me,” said Web, bending and offering it to the blushing Scree, one knee on the soft ground.  
“Names?” asked a cold voice from outside of the circle.  
The six turned and looked into the darkness as two clones stepped out, lurking in the shadows at the edge of the firelight.  
“You’ve given yourself names?” he asked again.  
“We have,” said Web, standing to face the two newcomers. “What of it?”  
One of the new clones hissed and the other said coldly, “It is not for us to have names.”  
“It is now, if you want it,” said Scorpia gently.  
“Keeping company with a princess too… If only our Lord Prime could see you now.”  
The clones looked uncomfortable but Scorpia stood up next to Web. He glanced at her gratefully and turned back to the new clones.  
“Prime is gone, and we are free. It’s time you learnt that, Brothers.”  
The new clones hissed.  
“Let’s leave them to their heresy,” said one to the other, and they melted back into the darkness, glaring over their shoulders.  
There was a worried silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire. Web sat, sighing and Scree laid a tentative hand on his arm.  
“Do you… Think we should do something about them?” asked Leaf of Scorpia.  
“I dunno… I-”  
“They’ll come round.” said Web firmly. He looked around the circle, finally locking eyes with Scorpia, fire reflected in the green, and said simply, “We did.”

Symbiosis.

For the rest of the day Hordak and Entrapta had worked on Darla, Emily rolling round at their feet. Though the work was quite different, they quickly fell back into the pattern they had developed during their time together constructing the portal and their other projects back at the Fright Zone. They passed ideas smoothly to one another as easily as they passed tools. The ship was in need of a lot of repairs and improvements; during their last foray into space there had been some ‘veeeery close calls’, according to an excited Entrapta. So they worked together on the ancient ship, learning all the while.  
At various points they were interrupted by the arrivals of some of Entrapta’s bots, following the signal to come home. They had been scattered during the Horde’s occupation of Dryl and the absence of its princess. At each new arrival progress was halted as Entrapta rushed into the square to greet them. In reply they whirred or bleeped or squeaked or blooped in a variety of tones. What struck Hordak was the joy they seemed to radiate at being around her. He shook his head, frowning, reminding himself to look at their programming at a later date.  
Late in the evening three humans arrived, one blue haired, one green and one pink. Hordak hesitantly went to greet them, encouraged by a rather busy Entrapta who had disappeared under the panelling of the ship and could only be sourced from the odd shout or bang.  
“Good evening,” said Hordak, smoothly.  
“Hello!” called the one with green hair, brightly. “You must be Hordak! We were told to expect you too, sorry we’re a bit late.”  
“And, who…?”  
“Oh, my apologies!” she cried warmly, “We’re the kitchen staff. Queen Glimmer told us the princess was back, we’ve come back to take up our old positions.”  
The others nodded, smiling, open and friendly.  
Hordak was confused, he had seen no evidence of anyone living at the Crypto Castle or even in Dryl itself for that matter.  
“I don’t know if we need...”  
The one with blue hair laughed and said, “You might not, but she does. Trust us, have you ever seen her left to her own devices? We went away for a weekend once, a wedding. She forgot to eat the entire time.” She rolled her eyes.  
“But don’t worry,” added the one with pink hair, “we know our way around. You go back to whatever you were doing...”  
He eyed the massive ship, from which a loud cackling could be heard.  
Hordak followed his gaze, then turned back as the one with pink hair laid his hand gently on Hordak’s arm, he flinched slightly, but if he noticed the one with pink hair didn’t mention it.  
“See you around, Hordak!”  
The others waved and walked towards the castle.

Back on the ship Hordak walked up to Entrapta who was sitting in front of a panel, adjusting something inside.  
“That was your kitchen staff.”  
“Oh good! Baker, Soda Pop and Busgirl. But you’re wrong, I don’t own them.”  
“That can’t be their names…” muttered Hordak.  
He paused for a moment, then, “Entrapta, did you… Get any results? From your test earlier?”  
“Yes!” she said turning around, “the fuel crystals will definitely keep us running for a long time, I’d still like to find an alternative power solution but-”  
“No,” interrupted Hordak, “the, ah, other test. My fertility.”  
“Oh!” she said, “you’re infertile.”  
“Ah,” he replied.  
She began eyeing up the panelling that was gently sparking behind her, slowly turning back to it, before Emily bleeped, nudging her side repeatedly and pointedly.  
“Oh,” said Entrapta, turning back to Hordak, clearly uncomfortable. “Are you… Okay with that?”  
He sighed looking at her for a long time before turning away to absently observe the controls.  
“It is…. As I expected. Horde Prime would never allow one of his clones to reproduce. That right is his and solely his alone. Before now it is… Not something that had crossed my mind, I could have checked myself of course but the thought never occurred to me. No… Defective as I am, I know he would do his utmost to ensure one of his clones could never sully his name or lineage in that manner.”  
“Hey,” came a voice just behind him. She had moved silently across the room on her hair and now took his hand gently with hers.  
“You’re not his.”  
He turned and looked down sadly into her soft red eyes. 

Night-time.

Glimmer nuzzled into Bow’s neck, and he tightened his arm around her, both fast asleep. Their eyelids flickered with dreams. The room around them was bathed in a dappled light. The bed soft and warm with the memories of all the times they had shared it together. In the room below was the remnants of an evening spent together after a long, hard day. Cake crumbs and snacks adorned a small table they had shared earlier, talking and laughing together. 

Adora gasped awake, Shadow Weavers face burning behind her eyelids, she sat up panicking until Catra caught her, pulling her back down onto the small bunk they shared, torn from her own scattered dreams, flashes of Prime and the chip. She held the trembling Adora close stroking her hair and mumbling soothingly into it as she sobbed into her chest, clenching the covers tightly. They lay like that for a long time until Adora’s sweating body gradually relaxed and into a troubled sleep they drifted again, clinging to each other.

Scorpia, Leaf, Stream, Web, Scree and Backpack lay around the embers of the fire, their meal digested and the rest of their evening uninterrupted. Scorpia snored gently, a small blanket barely covering her bulk. In his sleep Scree had curled into the foetal position, his head almost touching Web’s back. Backpack spooned Scorpia’s pack, his feet twitching as he dreamed.

Entrapta worked, screw driver busy in Darla’s control panel. Emily rested nearby, her lights dimmed. Hordak had fallen asleep earlier, sitting in the control seat, waiting for Entrapta to finish ‘one last thing’. She paused now, scratching her eyes with tiredness, she turned and looked over her shoulder at the sleeping Hordak, his body relaxed for once, long legs sprawled before him. She crept towards him and curled up on his knee, resting her head on her hair. His eyelids flickered and he slipped an arm across her. She pulled it tighter around herself. 

Plans.

“So welcome all to our first, official, peacetime Princess Alliance meeting,” said Glimmer, looking around at the room. She was sitting in her seat in the war room in Bright Moon, present were Adora, Bow, Swift Wind, Catra and Micha, each seated around the large circular table, except Swift Wind, who begrudgingly stood. In the centre of the table sat a device that was currently projecting holograms of the princesses not physically present; Netossa, Spinerella, Mermista, Perfuma, Scorpia, Frosta and Entrapta.  
“Scorpia will you stay still!” she added, “It looks like you’re walking through the table!”  
“Oh, sorry! I’ve just been so busy! We’re putting some new walls up today in the-”  
“Scorpia...”  
“Sorry Glimmer,” said Scorpia, sitting down, her hologram drifting through the surface, before settling into her seat.  
“So...” Glimmer continued, “It’s been about a month since we defeated Horde Prime-”  
Adora let out a whoop and the others chuckled, while Glimmer glared at her.  
“And I thought it was time we get updates. Now I know we’ve all been chatting but this is the first time we’ve all been present.” She paused, “now where should we start..? Mermista? How is Salineas going?”  
“Umm…” said Mermista turning to Glimmer, “Okay I guess. All the citizens returned pretty quick. Netossa and Spinerella have been helping too, thanks guys,” she added, nodding to them across the table. “Let’s see, She Ra fixed the sea gate, builders fixed the walls and stuff, we burnt the banners. That was fun. Catra has been mopping up some of the flooding… But you know all this, really.” She finished, looking round the room. “All in hand.”  
“Good, succinct... Thank you Mermista,” said Glimmer, turning to Scorpia, “and the Bright Zone?”  
“Great!” exclaimed Scorpia, “It’s still a wreck, but we’re working hard. And so many people have joined us!” She turned excitedly to Catra, “and Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio came to visit me! Remember them? They’re living on a farm and they’ve adopted the cutest little baby!”  
“Awww,” cried Perfuma, eyes glowing, as Catra rolled her own.  
“Anyway...” continued Scorpia, catching Glimmers eye, “everyone’s pretty happy and… Yeah, place looks great. People arrive everyday, Entrapta’s promised to design a smog filter so we can use the foundry again without polluting everywhere, Perfuma’s made the farmland so rich, oh you all should see it! It’s so beautiful.”  
She smiled across the table at Perfuma.  
“That’s amazing! Well done Scorpia,” said Bow, warmly.  
She blushed and lowered her eyes. “I had a lotta help.”  
“While you guys have been rebuilding here on Etheria, Adora, Bow and I have been-”  
“And me!” cut in Swift Wind, indignant.  
“Yes…” said Glimmer, “And Swift Wind, we have been working to make sure all the refugees have somewhere to go, back home, or some place new in terms of the clones. We’ve managed to talk to most of them and they seem to be settling in, finding their place. Though a reasonable portion of them would like to go to other planets. I’ve promised as soon as it’s viable we’ll give them rides. Until everything’s settled we’re keeping Primes ships under Etherian control.”  
She paused taking a breath.  
“As you know the message of the rebellion has been spreading around the universe but they still need our help, they need She Ra. We’ve managed to get into brief contact with The Star Siblings, thanks to Entrapta’s work boosting our signal. We intend to head out soon to meet with them and some of the other rebels. That is Bow, Adora, Entrapta, Catra and I. We intend to assess the situation and set up a safe base out there, a launch pad for future missions. There’s a lot we don’t know at this point so we’ll need to collect some information and-”  
“Data!” cried Entrapta, “There’s so much we need to find out! And Darla’s finally ready! Well, not ready, ready, there’s always improvements to be made! But we’ve been working on her night and day and she’s practically unrecognisable!”  
Adora winced, looking worriedly at Glimmer and Bow.  
“Is… Is it safe to fly? How much have you changed?!”  
“Of course she will fly!” broke in the voice of Wrong Hordak, he appeared at Entrapta’s shoulder, waving, “Hello all! I’m here too. But yes, I assure you, Darla will fly! Brother Entrapta has been teaching me so much.”  
Entrapta smiled up at the clone and patted him on the head with her hair, proudly.  
“He’s been a good Wrong Hordak.”  
The other’s around the table shared sidelong glances but no one said anything.  
“So,” said Glimmer, “I guess what we’re saying is, that we plan to leave tomorrow. We leave from Dryl so that’s where we’ll all gather later today. In our absence I can’t think of better people to look after this planet.”  
“Oh, we’re on it,” said Mermista, lazily, “We’ve been there, done that. Piece of cake.”  
“We got this!” shouted Frosta, “And if any baddies try anything well I got two things to say to em. One and two!” At each number she transformed her fists into ice.  
“I will be keeping an eye on Bright Moon during Glimmer’s absence, but darling,” said Micah, “come back soon, don’t keep your old dad worrying ey?”  
He looked at her, tears springing in his dark eyes.  
“I won’t dad,” she replied, taking his hand across the table.  
“Can we reach you?” asked Netossa, “you know, if stuff goes south?”  
“You can,” replied Bow, “Entrapta’s boosted the ships signal so if all goes well we should be able to make daily reports.”  
Netossa nodded and sat back.  
“So...” said Glimmer again, “I guess that’s everything. We leave tomorrow. I’m gonna miss you guys. So much.” 

Pre Launch.

Adora, Glimmer, Catra and Bow had teleported into the square of the Crypto Castle early that evening. They had been greeted warmly by the kitchen staff and guided the trap free route to their rooms. The four had gathered in a room that was almost cosy by the standards of the castle. Wrong Hordak had dragged a reluctant Entrapta and an even less eager Hordak into the room from their lab and the group had shared a meal and drinks. They sprawled out over mismatched furniture, chatting, planning, drinking, musing over their futures. Emily skittered around the room, showing off, happy to have such a large audience for the first time in ages. A returned Imp slipped out of the room, to the quietness of the corridor beyond.  
Adora lounged easily against a slightly stiffer Catra, Bow and Glimmer sat side by side on a large settee with Wrong Hordak, Entrapta sat on her hair, leaning forward into the conversation while Hordak sat, scowling in an armchair, sipping his drink steadily. Finally the gathering broke up after a snorting Adora knocked over her drink and Bow half carried her to bed.  
“Niiiiiiight,” said Adora, slurring, hanging from Bow’s neck, as Catra looked on, half amused, half scowling. Glimmer rolled her eyes.  
“Night you three,” she said.  
“Aren’t they cuuute,” laughed Adora, “so cute together, and ‘good Wrong Hordak’.”  
“Sorry.” Bow mouthed to Entrapta as he gently guided Adora away, “Come on now, big day tomorrow.”  
The four of them stumbled off, in the direction of their rooms.  
“Bye!” called Entrapta, waving.  
“Well, I’m going to clean up in there, then turn in myself. I’d like to be there to see you off in the morning, so no leaving without saying goodbye!” said Wrong Hordak, winking. He walked into back into the room and began clearing away the mess.  
“I need to to some last minute checks in the lab, but I’ll see you tomorrow,” called Entrapta, and she set off in the opposite direction to the others. Hordak followed her.  
“Entrapta, wait.”  
Now he was standing, he was a little unsteady on his feet, unused to drinking, but his voice came out clearly and his eyes seemed lucid. Over the past month they had slowly faded back to their old red colour, and his hair was gradually darkening, a blueish tinge to it. He was wearing a new set of armour, designed and built for him by Entrapta, in an effort to keep his body going. His health had deteriorated once Primes influence faded, but he was, so far, stable in the suit.  
She turned and looked at him questioningly.  
“What she said. It’s not true.”  
“What who said?” asked Entrapta.  
“Adora, just there. ‘Cute together’. You leave, tomorrow, with them.”  
“Well I wanted you to come but Glimmer said it’s probably for the best so...” she shrugged, taking half a step back as his brow lowered and he hissed.  
“Hordak-”  
“You want to go. You don’t want to be here, with me. We had so many plans and now...”  
He slammed his fist into the wall and let out a hiss of pain and anger.  
“You’re leaving.”  
“Well of course I want to go- it’s space! We won’t be gone long. I want you there too.”  
“It doesn’t seem that way. There’s been times I thought we- but- Gah!”  
“I do, Hordak,” she said, stepping forward, trying to take his hand in hers, but he pulled away.  
“No matter,” he said, swaying and turning away from her, “the fault is mine, I thought, after that first night that you… No matter. Have a safe trip.”  
He sped away from her. She started after him.  
“Leave me!” he commanded and she halted.  
“You thought what? Hordak? Hordak!” she called after him, but he didn’t turn, disappearing into the darkness.  
Entrapta pulled down her mask hiding a crushed expression.  
“I do want you, you’re Hordak. I thought you knew...”  
Imp skittered away, silently in the dark.

Hours later Wrong Hordak caught up to Entrapta, who was walking across the square, staring intently at her tracker pad. He had been sleeping lightly and was roused by the sound of the doors and her rummaging in the stables. He caught her as she mounted a light hover bike. A few had been delivered along with her things from the Bright Zone, and she had adapted it so that it was able to make short journeys in space, its passengers covered by a shield, protecting them from the pressures outside. It was to be loaded onto Darla the next day, to assist them on their mission.  
“Brother Entrapta!” he gasped, out of breath.  
“Hello!” she said brightly.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Well, I’ve been going over Darla’s readings, and I really think she could use some teleportation. I’m going to Prime’s flagship, I know he had something like that on there!”  
“You’ve looked at nearly everything on that ship already!”  
“Not nearly everything! There’s always so much to learn, and I really think this will be useful!”  
“There’s no stopping you, is there?” he sighed.  
“Nope!”  
“Very well, mind if I join? I’m having trouble sleeping.”  
“Hop on!”  
She made room for him on the seat and the two silently lifted off, shooting over the boundary wall and in the direction of the flag ship. She drove erratically, tapping on the pad every few seconds. Wrong Hordak held tightly to her waist and gulped.  
When, after a few minutes of them not crashing, he relaxed a little and spoke.  
“I hope you do not hold it against me, for electing to stay here, on Etheria.”  
“Of course not!” she cried over the wind, hair whipping either side of them like ineffectual wings.  
“It’s just, I’d like to find my own path. This world is so large and so alive, I’d like to see as much of it as possible, and find my own place, my own calling. But you’ve given me so much, it… It feels like home.”  
“You’ll always have a home, with me.”  
Wrong Hordak smiled and nuzzled into her back, eye’s sparkling. She patted his hand as he began sobbing.  
Approaching the flagship, Entrapta engaged the shield and they shot upwards, towards it. It loomed, larger and larger. Finally they alighted in a docking station and the two jumped off. Entrapta started forward, walking confidently towards her goal, while Wrong Hordak followed, a few steps behind.  
“I don’t like being back here,” he muttered, “too many bad memories.”  
“Oh we’ll be quick don’t worr-”  
She was cut off abruptly as a large piece of metal piping swung into her head. A large clone stepped out after it, towering over her crumpled body. Three more stepped out of the shadows around them.  
“Hello brother,” said one, “Bringing a princess into Prime’s domain? Defective….” he whispered, before the pipe was swung again, at the head of Wrong Hordak.


	3. Shadows and Journeys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little darker here, so if you're here for fluff it's slim pickings... Bit of smut still to see you through!
> 
> TW- Panic attacks, Torture.

Step.

“Do it,” hissed the voice. He couldn’t locate the source. It seemed to be coming from inside, like his own voice, but distorted. He chased it, but it echoed away from him, everywhere he turned it was just out of sight, just behind him. He could feel it.  
“Step forward, Little Brother.”  
He began to panic, starting with that prickling feeling at the edges of his brain. The voice would know that he was panicking. That knowledge made it grow. He felt hot, everything got a bit blurry, his thoughts, his vision. The sounds of the chanting struck sharp, loud against his ears in contrast.  
“Cast out the shadows, cast out the shadows.”  
Trying to calm himself made it worse. He knew how keenly aware the voice was of all of this. All his struggling.  
“Step forward and all this will be gone.”  
He did want it to be gone, this feeling. He wanted to cast it out of him, and never have it lurk in his mind again. If he stepped forward, it would be gone. The voice was right. His leg tensed to move.  
But he could hear another voice now. Almost too faint. Almost. It wove its way gently through the fog of panic, it neatly sidestepped the other voice, it bulldozed his own. It was a woman’s voice.  
“Imperfection is beautiful! At least to me.”  
He felt his breath catch in his chest. If he could hold onto that voice, then all the others were redundant. Just that one. Please.  
“Enough of this, step forward now,” came the first voice, cold, firm, commanding. It was too strong to repel. He felt his body move, there was no resistance in it. No resistance in his mind.  
Hordak stepped forward into the green vat before him. After that there was only one voice. Prime’s voice. 

Hordak opened his red eyes and lay there, stiff and still. He was icy and a thin layer of sweat covered him. He blinked slowly and concentrated on his body, waiting for his pounding heart to slow. Gradually the feeling came back to his limbs and he sat up, tentatively, his eyes flicking around the room to the light sources, scouring for a hint of green. When he found none he sat up, placing his feet on the floor, held his head in his hands and trembled. It was so fierce that he found it difficult to keep his elbows on his knees as they both vibrated. His teeth chattered. He forced deep, slow breaths into his body and they began to subside. Slowly he lifted his head and began to examine each thing in the room in turn. It helped. The trembling slowed then finally stopped. He was alright.  
Well, mostly alright. His head hurt. He remembered the alcohol from the previous evening. A side effect. His memory spun on, showing him the rest. He stiffened as the corridor floated through his mind, fuzzy, but there. Her face as he hissed.  
“Entrapta,” he gasped, horror filling him.

Communications.

Catra was the last to stumble into the kitchen that morning, in search of coffee, Melog trotting droopily by her side. The kitchen of the Crypto Castle was perhaps the only room in the whole building that felt warm and alive. It was also the only room that was designed by Busgirl, Soda Pop and Baker. A huge Aga stood at one end, which at any time could be opened to reveal tiny baking bread or cakes. Cupboards lined the walls along with a jumble of pleasant clutter; cook pots, utensils, dried herbs, jars and tins. Two huge tables sat in the middle of the floor, one for prep, one for eating, their surfaces scarred with a lifetime of chopping and wear. A variety of chairs were scattered between the two.  
Around one sat Adora, head in hands but still punctual, Bow, Glimmer, Soda Pop and Busgirl. Baker stood by the Aga, stirring a large pot of something while Hordak paced the room, looking edgy.  
“Morning,” said Catra, sliding onto a seat and reaching straight for the coffee. Adora moved, resting her sleepy blonde head on Catra’s shoulder.  
“It’ll be fine,” Bow was saying to Hordak, “she’ll come wandering in soon, face deep in her tracker pad.”  
“But where is she? I’ve checked Darla, her lab, her room-”  
“She has a room?” snorted Adora. “Huh, I guess I just never pictured her sleeping. Weird.”  
“Be nice, Adora,” warned Glimmer.  
“I wasn’t being not nice! I wasn’t! Was I?” Adora asked Catra, who wasn’t listening.  
“I’m going to look again,” growled Hordak, and he strode from the room. 

Bow finally found Hordak sitting in the square, staring unseeing at Darla. The ship took up most of the space, around it scattered a mess of crates and boxes, scrap metal and the odd spare part.  
“You’re really worried about her, aren’t you?” Bow asked gently.  
Hordak jumped and looked at him before nodding once.  
“I am.”  
“But why?” asked Bow, sitting down too, “she’s always wandering off.”  
Hordak sighed.  
“I- I said some things to her last night. I was unpleasant. I lost my temper. I let my own insecurities get the better of me.” He looked incredibly uncomfortable and stared straight ahead.  
“I’m sure you’re overthinking it, she’s always forgiven flaws,” said Bow gently, examining Hordak.  
“Then why isn’t she here? Getting ready to launch into space?” Hordak turned and stared into Bow’s eyes. “You know that she would not miss this.”  
“What did you say?”  
Hordak turned away again, hissing, hunching in on himself. Then he lowered his ears, defeated.  
“She- she doesn’t want me like I want her. I allowed myself to get angry about it. That is something I regret.”  
Bow gasped, “She said that?”  
“Well, no. But I know.”  
“How?”  
“We haven’t… Since the first night.”  
“Haven’t what?”  
Hordak gave Bow a quick half glance and blushed ever so slightly.  
“Had intercourse.”  
“Oh!” said Bow surprised, then he frowned, thinking, “But how much time have you spent working on the ship?”  
“Night and day,” sighed Hordak.  
“Well there you go! You’ve been busy, so has she! You know how she gets around tech...”  
“But I thought that she’d… Carry things on.”  
“Have you… Have you even asked her?”  
“No… But-”  
“You haven’t even TALKED about it?” shrieked Bow.  
“No, we-”  
“Tell. Her. How. You. Feel.” said Bow.  
Hordak hissed, looking at him, annoyed.  
“She does not think of me that way. She took pity on me, that’s all.”  
“She does like you!”  
“You’re mistak-”  
Bow cut him off.  
“No, Hordak, listen. I get it, you feel insecure and you need her to be a little more forthcoming but that’s not who she is. Relationships are about communication, you have to tell her how you feel, or when you’re not keen on something, otherwise, how will she know? Me and Glimmer talk all the time. It works because we’re so open with each other. It’s scary, but you have to take that chance and be vulnerable. You need to open yourself to the possibility instead of dropping hints or waiting and worrying. She might think things are clear, but the point is you don’t know until you communicate. So just… think about it okay?”  
He sighed and stood, laying a quick hand on Hordak’s shoulder and walked away. It was only when he was around the corner that he sped up, and, once out of earshot, he gasped, leaning against a wall.  
“I can’t believe I just told Lord Hordak off!” 

Progress.

“That one goes there, okay, yeah, together now! Hmm, blue! Can you help me with this? Yeah, but we’ll have to do that last. Thanks guys! Woah, boy, this is looking great!”  
Scorpia was busy, she fended queries and directed the Bright Zoners back and forth, helping in any way she could, using her vast strength to help them. A lot of progress had been made on the old metal wreck in the past month. The huge tears in the roof and walls had been patched over, the farmland had been replanted and was already looking lush and green, the foundry was out of action for the moment so the air had had a chance to clear, sunlight shone warmly down causing the metal creak and expand. For the first time, the Bright Zone looked appealing. They had installed windows anywhere they could, as a result, the dingy metal maze had become light and airy. They had converted the old dorms, offices, stores and weaponries into brightly decorated living spaces; bedrooms, common rooms, kitchens, places to gather.  
At that moment, she was working with Web, Scree, Leaf and a small team of Etherians on the old throne room. She had proposed that it be a kind of meeting room and museum, a place to hold councils and to reflect on the past. An artist had painstakingly restored the old murals of her family and they had moved certain artefacts from the time of the Fright Zone here, each with a small information board near it. Scorpia did not want to lose the past again. As a result the room had become the new centre for operations of the Bright Zone, planning meetings were held here, Scorpia greeted visitors to the kingdom here, her private rooms were even here, in the chambers just off from the main hall. She gazed into the carved face of her grandfather, the one who had surrendered to Hordak all those years ago. She wondered what he would think of their kingdom now. She didn’t even know his name, so much of her personal history had been lost; Hordak hadn’t cared to relay it to her, and had destroyed most of the records.  
“What do you think?” asked Scree. He and Leaf were holding either end of a streamer that crossed the ceiling, his ladder wobbled slightly and Web rushed to steady it. Scree looked down gratefully at him.  
“Perfect!” said Scorpia happily, “She’s gonna love it.”  
“What time is Princess Perfuma arriving?” asked Web, watching Scree tie the end of the streamer to a small hook in the wall. They had been decorating the hall all day, any excuse for a party was grabbed by the Bright Zoners.  
“Right now!” came a voice behind them. They turned to see the tall slender figure of Perfuma in the doorway. She laughed with delight as Scorpia darted across the room, scooping her up into a large, crushing hug.  
“This place looks amazing!” she cried, looking around the chamber, “all your family, Scorpia!” She walked around, gazing at the murals and then with a look of distaste at a model of a Horde soldier in full armour, the winged crest on its chest blazing out, red.  
“Why have you kept all this Horde stuff? It looks like you’ve made a memorial. I thought you’d rather forget it?” she asked.  
Scorpia sighed, “I know it’s not great but it’s really important to remember the past, so we can learn from it, and not repeat the same mistakes. The Fright Zone and the Horde wasn’t a great chapter but it’s an important one in the history of this land. We have some Bright Zone stuff too, come see!”  
She led Perfuma to a large board which was tacked with hundreds of pieces of paper. Each had an image of a different person on, in an endless variety of styles and talent.  
“Everyone who comes to live here does a self portrait and we put them on here. It’s the people that make this place, not just its history. There’s mine, look!”  
She pointed a claw at a childish looking stick figure with overlarge claws sticking out the side. Perfuma examined it appreciatively and squeezed one of the real Scorpias claws.  
“It’s great, Scorpia.”

The evening was a happy one. Like most nights, many of the Bright Zoners gathered together, sharing a meal and a drink, the cuisine a fusion of different cultures from all over Etheria. There was music and dancing, stories and laughter. Tonight they met in the throne room, enjoying the decorations in honour of Perfuma’s visit.  
Scoripa and Perfuma had danced together, delighting in each others closeness. Nearby had danced Web and Scree, the two were rarely seen apart now.  
Afterwards they retried to bed. Scorpia escorting Perfuma to her door.  
“Well, goodnight Perfuma, it’s good to have you here.”  
She turned to go when Perfuma caught her arm.  
“Scorpia?” she asked, blushing slightly, “you can… Stay. That is, if you want to?”  
Scorpia matched her blush.  
“I- I’d like that, yeah.”  
She followed Perfuma into the room, turning away as Perfuma carefully dressed in her night clothes. Then came the gentle creak of the mattress.  
“Come here.”  
Scorpia turned to see Perfuma sitting up in the bed. She patted it and Scorpia hesitantly crossed the room, getting in beside her, leaving a little space between them. Perfuma turned out the lights and snuggled down under the covers, she gently tugged Scorpia down with her. The two lay, face to face in the pitch black. Scorpia’s heart pounded and she swallowed nervously, the sound loud in the silence. Perfuma’s breath tickled her face. She smelt so sweet and floral, like a tropical garden.  
Perfuma adjusted herself on the mattress. Her arm lay now, almost touching Scorpias, the hairs on it tickling her. It must’ve been a mistake, Scorpia thought, a coincidence. She tried to settle down to sleep.  
They lay like that for a long time, before Perfuma sighed and moved again, just inches, her leg pressed against Scorpias. She’s just moving around in her sleep, thought Scorpia. The leg felt warm against her, she felt it twitch. Scorpia let out a gentle sigh. Perfumas leg twitched again, pressing into her. Was she asleep? This couldn’t be on purpose. Scorpia shifted her head on the pillow, edging closer to Perfuma, at the same time moving her claw. It pressed gently against Perfuma’s chest. Scorpia held her breath, nervous now, she had gone too far. Her heart pounded and she blushed hard, glad of the darkness. Despite this, she felt… excited.  
Perfuma’s head moved again, her breathing was slow, deep, she still hadn’t said anything. The distance between their faces was closed and they settled, tips of their noses touching. Scorpia’s mind was racing, was this on purpose? Or was she just sleeping? She had to test. She was so nervous, what if she was wrong? What if Perfuma really was asleep, or just pushed her away? She nearly talked herself out of it, but without even realising she had decided to do so, Scorpia leant forward and quickly kissed Perfuma’s lips. They were so soft, they tasted like sweet fruit.  
Scorpia froze, terrified and exhilarated all at once, it was worth it, she hoped. What happened next would play in her mind at least once a day for the rest of her life. It would help her when she was sad, or feeling worthless, and insecure, it would accompany her happiness, adding to it, giving it flavour.  
Perfuma kissed her back.  
It was soft, sweet, and definitely not an accident. Scorpia was glad of the darkness pressing around them as her eyes filled with happy tears.  
The flower princess snaked her arms around Scorpia’s neck and pressed her warm slender body against her. Perfuma deepened the kiss and Scorpia held her back, hard, pincers tangling in Perfuma’s long wavy hair. The smell of flowers encased them.  
Perfuma’s leg was still gently pressing between Scorpia’s legs and she opened them slightly, allowing the other princess to wedge her leg firmly between them, her thigh pushing into Scorpia slightly. She felt a warm sensation growing, and all she could focus on was the feeling of Perfuma’s thigh.  
She sighed gently, pushing herself down, tensing her internal muscles.  
She felt Perfuma smile into the kiss as her hand slid down between their bodies, feeling Scorpia’s hard, pointed exoskeleton. Her had slipped quickly in between Scorpia’s legs, and into her underwear. She could feel the long, thin fingers gently begin to touch her, slightly cool against her warm skin.  
Perfuma pressed herself more firmly against Scorpia, holding her entire body to the large womans as she began to strum out a rhythm, her clever fingers working quickly. She began to slip her fingers into Scorpia’s entrance but her large pincer caught the slender wrist, gently. Scorpia shook her head slowly and Perfuma complied, only touching her clit, and avoiding slipping inside. Slowly Scorpia felt something building, growing from the slight friction that Perfuma teased out of her.  
Scorpia’s breath came in gasps against her face as Perfuma slid her fingers back and forth, circling occasionally. It was the only part of Scorpia’s body that was soft and silky and it was Perfumas favourite part, after her heart. She covered Scorpia’s face with kisses, surprised to find wet tears there. She held her close, softly kissing each eye as her fingers played a faster and faster rhythm.  
Finally Scorpia gasped and shook, crushing Perfuma to her body and clinging onto the princess as a drowning person would a life jacket. Perfuma held her back and stroked her head, playing with the short white hair until Scorpia stopped trembling and eased the hug.  
“Thank you,” she gasped.  
In answer Perfuma just kissed her nose, soft, short, gentle.  
“Now,” whispered Scorpia, pushing Perfuma gently with her claw, “lay back and let me return the favour.” She gently flicked her tongue across Perfuma’s lips, feeling them curve into a smile.  
When they woke up the next morning, the bed was filled with petals. 

Gone.

As the morning wore on, it slowly became clear to the others, too, that Entrapta, not for the first time, was not where she should be. They had set to work, loading up the ship with all the last minute items, in went tools, spare materials, personal items, food supplies. They checked everything off, they checked their lists, they checked their space suits and even their toothbrushes. Hordak had been no help, pacing the castle, prowling into every room, hissing to himself, snapping angrily at distractions. Finally there was nothing left preventing the launch, except their absent crew mate. They gathered in the square by Darla.  
“This is a bit odd now...” said Glimmer, a hint of worry tingeing her voice.  
“Yeah…” said Bow, frowning, “I really thought she’d be back by now. I noticed… I noticed she took the hover bike. She told me about it, it was gonna be a surprise for you guys but…” he shrugged.  
“I guess it means she’s gone further than we though,” said Glimmer, “maybe… maybe to get some first ones tech? She does like that...”  
“Not as much as she likes space,” said Adora.  
Frustration evident in her voice, Catra said, “I mean, if this is what it’s gonna be like the whole trip, can’t we just go? Like, ‘sorry, but you missed out.’”  
Hordak hissed angrily but Adora answered first.  
“We are not leaving her behind. Again. Besides, do you know how to fix or fly this thing?”  
“I was just saying...” muttered Catra, but Adora frowned and turned away.  
“Actually, has anyone seen Wrong Hordak? He hasn’t left already has he?”  
“He wanted to see you off,” said Hordak curtly. His ears dropped slightly and he turned from them, hiding his expression. “If he is gone too, then it is clear what has happened.”  
He began to walk away, Imp skittered up his body and took his place on Hordak’s shoulder.  
“What?” asked Adora, “I don’t get it, what happened?”  
Bow rolled his eyes, annoyed.  
“Hordak. She has not run off with… Wrong Hordak. Not like that, so you… You stop sulking and help us find them!”  
He stood, hands on hips, looking a little surprised at his own boldness, Glimmer looked impressed too, glancing at Bow out of the corner of her eye and raising an eyebrow. Hordak froze.  
“What?” asked Adora again, “I thought he was like… Her kid or something?”  
Hordak turned, eyebrows raised, started to speak but halted himself, shaking his head at Adora, he turned instead to Bow.  
“You’re right. I will ensure her safety, then leave her live her life, she does not need a shadow to detract from her light.”  
Bow almost slapped himself with the force of his hand to his head, he let out a groan of frustration muttering “Why do I even bother,” to himself.  
“He’s called ‘Wrong Hordak’ because she found him when she was looking for you!” he cried.  
Imp snickered and nuzzled into Hordak’s face before launching off his shoulder, flying in loops around them. He opened his mouth and the voice of Entrapta spilled out of it.  
“Imperfection is beautiful.”  
“I like being friends with you too.”  
Then, finally, “I do want you, you’re Hordak. I thought you knew...”  
Silence filled the square save for Imp’s snickering as he fluttered out of reach.  
“See? Buddy...” said Bow.  
Hordak, who had frozen, stunned, looking at Imp slowly lowered his eyes to them. His voice had a slight tremor to it, perhaps fear, joy… desperation.  
“If this is true then where is she?”

Cell.

Wrong Hordak whimpered as he opened his eyes. His head pounded with pain. He tried to sit up but his vision blurred and he fell back again, to the floor. He felt sick. The light was dim but to him it blazed, boring into his brain with malice. He closed his eyes and tried to ease his breathing, staying still as the ground bucked and whirled beneath him. His eyes pricked with tears.  
“Shh, it’s okay, try and stay still.”  
He felt his head lift slightly and he cracked open his eyes to see Entrapta’s face, swimming above him. She had gently placed his head in her lap and was stroking his cheek slowly. She smiled at him softly. She seemed unharmed bar a patch of sticky blood on the side of her head, staining her purple hair.  
He whimpered again and she held his hand tightly.  
“I’m scared, it hurts,” he whispered. He had not known pain like this before. He wondered when the sickening, swaying sensation would cease.  
“You’re going to be just fine, you’ll see,” she soothed, “I’ve checked your wound and patched it up. It’s not life threatening and will heal up soon. You’re best off trying to stay still and don’t touch it.”  
His fingers halted, hovering near the wound on his head. He returned his hand to the cold floor.  
“Where are we?” he asked.  
“I’m not sure,” she replied, “at a guess I’d say we’re still on Prime’s flagship, the style is the same as that. We’re in some kind of holding cell. The doorway has a forcefield across it. I’ve already tried to open in but I’m not sure it’s possible from in here. There’s no other way in or out, not even any vents!”  
“Perhaps I could try the door? I am still a clone after all.”  
“It’s worth a try! I considered it earlier but I know you shouldn’t move people when they’re unconscious. It can cause some... distress upon awakening.”  
She helped him stand, steadying him with her hair. He clung to her tightly, the ground bucking and reeling beneath him. He swallowed firmly, forcing the sickening sensation down again. Step by faltering step he moved across the room, hands outstretched, Entrapta guiding him, supporting his body. He reached out a clawed hand and stroked the door, he had made the same movement many times on this ship to open doors, but this one didn’t budge. The green resisted him. He sighed.  
“I didn’t really expect that to work,” said Entrapta, guiding the clone gently back to the floor, “they have likely changed the programming to the door so that only they can open it. If only there was some kind of key pad! I could hack into it easily, but this door seems to work using a form of DNA scan. Only Horde clones can open it. Or now only those clones we saw earlier can open it. Just not you, Wrong Hordak. Oh I’d love to examine it properly!”  
She stood, examining the door thoughtfully. Wrong Hordak groaned, leaning his head against her leg, green eyes shut tight against the light. Her hair reached down, rubbing circles into his back absent mindedly. He relaxed against her.  
“Entrapta?” he said.  
“Hmm?” she replied, still frowning at the door.  
“There’s something I’d like to say, in case we don’t get out of this.”  
“We will,” she smiled down at him before crouching to his level, “we’ll work something out. Is that comforting? I intended it to be.”  
He sighed, “But if we don’t there’s something I want you to know, something I’ve been thinking about for some time. You named me, when I was first born, and I am grateful for that, that name was the first thing I could call my own. I held on to it when everything else was uncertain, with Horde Prime, my understanding, our futures…”  
He paused, breathing deeply, holding onto her to stop the swaying sensation.  
“But that was another’s name, not truly mine. Now, at this point, especially if we are to perish here, I’d like to change it. I have selected a new name, a homage to honour the old one, the one you gave me, but one that better reflects my independence.”  
She waited patiently, and he slowly opened his green eyes, holding her gaze.  
“I’d like to be known as Kadroh.”  
She smiled.  
“Okay, Kadroh!”  
A smile lit up his white face, his green eyes sparkling despite the pain.  
Suddenly the door before them disappeared and two clones stepped into the room, grabbing Entrapta. One grabbed her hair firmly while the other kicked Kadroh aside, spitting on him. He yelped and clutched his head, blindly trying to reach for Entrapta.  
“You’re coming with us, princess,” hissed one of the clones as they dragged her firmly away, shutting the door behind them. She struggled but she was no fighter, and they were strong.  
They dragged her roughly through some corridors and finally into another small room. In the centre was a metal chair which they threw her into. They cuffed her into it using the same green forcefield. She struggled against her bonds, hair, too, tightly bound. If it was a simple lock she could have picked it, but she had not yet cracked the mysteries of this green glowing force.  
“Princess, you will answer our questions, and be warned, it is in your best interests to answer us.”  
Entrapta glared at them.  
“Where is She-Ra and where is she keeping Horde Prime’s consciousness?”  
“What?” asked Entrapta, “Horde Prime is dead! He’s not coming back.”  
The clones glanced at one another and shrugged. One stepped forward and slapped her smartly on the cheek. She gasped, the area quickly turning red.  
“Answer the question, princess,” said the other, coldly.  
“I will never tell you where She- Ra is, and Horde Prime is dead.” she answered.  
“Princess, this is your final chance. Answer the question or we will be forced to send in our Brother. The loss of Prime has effected him most terribly, he will not be as reasonable as us. Now, answer!”  
“I am answering! You’re not listening.” shouted Entrapta.  
“Very well,” sighed one of the clones. “On your head be it. We will send in our brother. I pity you for what is to come…”  
The clones stepped smoothly from the room, leaving Entrapta to struggle against her bonds.  
Through the open door she could hear the sound of steady footsteps emanating from the corridor.  
“Go in now, Brother, as we discussed...”

Search.

“Okay,” said Glimmer, stepping forward to take the lead. Hordak had turned away from them, fists clenched, not wanting to show them his face. “She’s probably fine, but we still need to find her. Maybe she got lost, or shut in somewhere. Does anyone have any ideas?”  
“Oh!” said Adora, “She could have fallen off a cliff!”  
Hordak hissed and Glimmer glared at Adora.  
“Any ideas on how to find her, Adora.”  
“Oh… Umm… Where does she like to go?”  
They glanced at Hordak who turned back to them, his face a blank mask once more.  
“We have searched the entire castle and she is not here. We need to look further afield. Split up to cover more ground. I will find her!” He roared, angrily, fist clenched skywards. He struggled, trying to keep his emotions under control, but failing. It wasn’t helpful.  
“If I still had my armies I could scour this land, I had everything at my disposal and now I have nothing. But I will find her.”  
“Go a little easier on the ‘wishing you had an army’, okay buddy?” said Bow, looking worried.  
“And you don’t need an army, now you have us!” smiled Glimmer.  
“And we’re better than an army, since, you know, we beat yours,” smirked Adora.  
Hordak hissed.  
“I was thinking more of the ground we’d be able to cover with more bodies and-”  
Adora waved away his words, cutting him off firmly, “Better than any army.”  
“Okay,” snapped Hordak angrily, “then how do you propose to find her?”  
The group fell into a shifty silence, looking at each other, except Bow who was looking at his tracker pad.  
“Just as I thought, I-”  
“If only there was a way to track her,” said Bow thoughtfully, cutting Hordak off. “If she had her tracker pad with her, I could try and hack into it and trace it but… Who am I kidding, there’s no way I can hack any tech of Entraptas.”  
He looked crestfallen and Glimmer squeezed his arm, comfortingly.  
“Don’t worry Bow. Anyway, at least you’re coming up with ideas rather than snapping at us!”  
She looked at Hordak meaningfully who scoffed and looked away.  
“Is there anything else she had with her? Maybe you could trace that?” asked Adora.  
“The problem is we don’t know what she took,” sighed Bow, “just Wrong Hordak and the hover bike, and that doesn’t even leave a trail!”  
The group fell into a moody silence.  
“The bike...” said Catra slowly. “Like the ones from the Horde?” She pointed into the open stable where a couple of bikes and a skiff could be seen.  
“Yes,” said Hordak, “Scorpia sent them over with the rest of the things from the lab.”  
“Then…” said Catra, “then we can track her. Or at least the bike. The Horde had tracking devices in all their vehicles and bots, if it still works then we should be able to find her.”  
“How do you know that?” asked Adora astonished, “I thought you skipped Force Captain orientation?”  
Catra laughed.  
“I wasn’t great at the admin side of Shadow Weavers job but I did learn some things. I’m surprised they never caught us joyriding that time actually...”  
“Well our boss wasn’t the most competent-” grinned Adora, throwing a half glance at Hordak.  
“Enough!” said Hordak, eyes widened with excitement, he turned to Bow, “you can track the bike?”  
Bow scratched his head thoughtfully, “not from here, I’ve no idea what frequency they signal at. Or how to even go about finding that but...” he turned to Catra, “is there a computer in the Frig- Bright Zone that the information is sent to?”  
Catra smiled thinly.  
“If Scorpia hasn’t destroyed it, then yes. Back home we go… Yay.” she said sarcastically.

They piled into Darla and Bow took the driving seat, placing his hands tentatively on the arms.  
“Bow,” said Adora, “autopilot...”  
Bow looked visibly relieved and vacated the seat.  
“Hi, er, Darla?” said Adora.  
“Hello Adora,” came the reply.  
“Can you take us to the Bright Zone please?”  
“Quickly,” growled Hordak.  
“Certainly,” said Darla.  
The doors closed with a smooth hiss and the ship leapt into the sky, shooting off over the mountains towards the Bright Zone. They each grabbed hold of something to steady themselves.  
“Relax Hordak, she’s gonna be fine. Just wandered off like we said,” said Catra, scowling out of the window. “I thought we’d be up there by now.”  
Melog mewled and rubbed his head against her leg. Hordak didn’t reply, but he looked grim.  
The journey didn’t take long, the ship could travel at considerable speeds, and they touched down gently on a landing pad. The group gathered outside, pausing despite their mission. The Bright Zone was almost unrecognisable. Catra unconsciously took hold of Adora’s hand as they gazed open mouthed at their old home, where they had grown up together. Even Hordak allowed a look of surprise to break his frown.  
It was bright, the sun falling in beams on what had once been rusting, shaking walkways, now painted to create colourful, enticing pathways. The many towers and metal block like buildings were blooming with a network of plants, climbing ivy, baskets spilling over with blooms of every shape and size. Windows had appeared where before there were none, in some flags were draped, or curtains hung. Curtains, in the Fright Zone. They could even hear music.  
Dreamlike they all wandered forwards as a door opened and a figure stepped out to meet them. As they approached they could see it was a smiling dark haired woman, wearing a loose tunic and what appeared to be knitted rainbow slippers.  
“Welcome to the Bright Zone!” she said, “are you here to stay or just visiting?”  
“Err...” said Adora, squeezing Catra’s hand.  
“Just visiting,” said Glimmer, taking over, “We’re here to see Princess Scorpia, she’s a friend of ours.”  
“Do we have to?” hissed Hordak, “this is wasting time!”  
Glimmer glared at him, “yes!” she hissed back, “Scorpia will know where the computer is and it’s polite!”  
“Well of course! Right this way!”  
They followed the woman through the great doors and into the building. 

Even Hordak, who built the place, probably wouldn’t be able to find his way around now; it had changed so much. Everywhere they looked were people, smiling faces and colour. The effect was overwhelming. They passed rooms and corridors, some lined with what appeared to be market stalls, selling all sorts of trinkets, cloth but mainly metal objects.  
“Metal work is our speciality, here,” explained their guide, leading them on. “Soon we hope to be able to provide Etheria with custom made works for building and the like, but for now, it’s just ornaments.”  
They observed a stall filled with twisted figurines, made from the scraps from the foundry.  
“We’ve repurposed a lot of the scrap that was lying around, weapons, armour.”  
Hordak flinched but didn’t say anything.  
“Er… What if you’re attacked?” asked Adora, dumbfounded. “How will you defend yourselves?”  
The woman laughed.  
“Who’s going to attack us now? Didn’t you hear? The Horde is gone!”  
“Yeah...” said Catra, rolling her eyes, “Didn’t you hear Adora?”  
Adora smirked and gave her a light shove.

Eventually they arrived in the cavernous throne room and stopped to admire its contents, from the museum to the art to the streamers across the ceiling.  
“Now just wait here and I’ll go get her for you!” called the woman over her shoulder as she whisked off through a doorway.  
A few minutes later they found themselves each lifted off their feet into a Scorpia hug. She paused, awkwardly before Hordak before giving him a quick hesitant squeeze too, backing away quickly afterwards at the murderous look on his face. Perfuma followed round after her, glowing with happiness as she greeted them all.  
“It’s so good to see you guys! What do you think?” beamed Scorpia.  
“It’s wonderful, Scorpia!” cried Glimmer.  
“And great to see you, you too Perfuma, I didn’t know you’d be here,” added Bow.  
“I arrived yesterday, after the meeting,” she smiled, glancing warmly at Scorpia, “it’s hard to stay away from this place.”  
Scorpia chuckled, blushing.  
“Enough pleasantries,” growled Hordak, “ask her where it is!”  
“Alright! Calm down!” said Catra before turning to Scorpia, “hey, we’re trying to find Entrapta, big surprise, she’s wandered off. We were wondering, do you still have some of the old Horde computers? The ones that tracked all the vehicle movements?”  
Scorpia scratched the back of her head thoughtfully.  
“Hmm… Oh yeah! I know! We’ve got a couple of office’s up and running, mostly to track food production and distribution. We’ve got salad now! I don’t think we wiped the old stuff off though, you’re free to take a look... Just don’t ask me to help you, can’t stand using those things!”  
She laughed holding up her large claws.  
“Come with me!”  
She lead them through a side door and into a narrow corridor lined with small offices and meeting rooms.  
“This is the admin side of things...” she said leading them into a room and motioning to a bank of humming computers.  
“Perfect!” said Bow, seating himself at one, Catra peering over his shoulder. He began tapping away at the keyboard.  
“So,” said Scorpia, “what happened then? Is Entrapta alright? I thought you were meant to launch today?”  
“We’re sure she’s fine,” soothed Glimmer, “just she wasn’t around this morning and some of us got a little worried…”  
“‘A little worried’ she didn’t turn up for a mission to space? That does not seem unreasonable, given her lust for the subject” snapped Hordak.  
“Oh yeah...” said Scorpia nodding, “I get that. She wouldn’t intentionally miss space!”  
“She is a little… unreliable… at times…” interjected Perfuma.  
“Oh yeah! That’s true too!” agreed Scorpia.  
Hordak looked between them hissing.  
“Got it!” cried Bow, cutting through the chatter. “If they’re with the bike then they’re… On Prime’s flagship…”  
Hordak looked horrified.  
“Right,” said Glimmer, noticing this, and adding gently, “it’ll be fine, we’ll just go pick her up. Probably ran out of fuel or got distracted...”  
“Let’s go.” he said shortly, whisking from the room. As he walked his fingers crept to the crystal set in his armour, and his face fell. 

Pain.

Through the open doorway stepped another clone, identical to the first two, except for his eyes. Entrapta glanced into them briefly before averting her own gaze. She could see nothing there, they were blank, even the other clones had some flicker of intelligence, awareness. His were a lack. He stepped through and began stalking around the room. The movements were smooth, slow, considered. He observed everything in the room as he approached it, carefully, as if trying to calculate its dimensions but not caring the outcome. A giggle escaped his lips and he subdued it. There was no mirth in his eyes. The door closed, sealing them in together.  
Entrapta watched him, following him with her eyes as far as she could until he disappeared behind her. She could not turn her head; her hair was secured too tightly. He reappeared on her other side.  
“Little princess, keeping Lord Prime from us. She knows. She has him.”  
The clones voice was monotonous, no lilt, no accent, as if he were reading his own words from a card. He let off a stream of giggles which he ceased by pinching two long white fingers around his lips. The rest of his face didn’t move.  
“Princess will tell us, or princess will hurt.”  
“I explained to your brothers already. Horde Prime is dead.”  
He looked back, cocking his head at her.  
“Princess has chosen.”  
He leapt at her suddenly, raising his fist to strike her. She flinched but instead of the expected force, he stopped, bent neatly at the waist, extended a finger, and ran it down her cheek. She cringed away from his touch. His finger traced down to her neck and she swallowed. He began to squeeze, his head cocked once more, watching the skin depress under his grip.  
She gasped, trying to move away but the clone was strong, his long fingers holding tightly, crushing her delicate windpipe easily. She struggled to breathe but no air could get through. Her vision blurred as black spots began darting across it. She tried to stay still, conserving her oxygen, mind whirling, looking for a solution, but nothing viable presented itself.  
Finally, when she felt like she was about to pass out, he released her. She sucked in air, gratefully and swallowed, it felt sore on her throat but at least she could breathe now. She assessed that the damage would not be permanent. The clone turned his back on her.  
“Where’s Prime we ask? Where’s She- Ra? She- Ra stole Prime from us.”  
“I won’t tell you anything,” she croaked, her voice sounded broken, cracked.  
The clone stared at the wall, back still to her.  
“The princess talks but the words aren’t right.”  
Entrapta observed him while controlling her breathing, making sure her oxygen levels were back to normal. The clone resumed his prowling of the room, taking it in slow circles this time.  
Stopping behind her, he paused and tapped her on the head.  
“Where’s Prime?”  
“Dead.”  
He circled again and resumed behind her, tapping another part of her skull.  
“Where’s She- Ra?”  
“I’ll never tell you.”  
He looped again, this time stroking the back of her neck.  
“What colour is Ordana?”  
“I don’t know what that is? Will you tell me?”  
The clone continued his circling. There was a silence for several long minutes.  
“Persuasion time,” he said quietly, in that same blank tone, and turned to Entrapta. He examined her carefully, looking at each body part before focusing on the exposed flesh of her face. He stared, for a while, as if calculating her as he had the room earlier. Suddenly leaning over her he began pulling wires from the back of the chair and attached them to her, one on each temple. As he stood up he paused, face close to hers and licked her from jaw to eyebrow. It prickled as it dried. He straightened up and took a neat step back. In his clawed hand he held a remote control. Meeting her eyes, his still so empty, he twisted a dial on the remote.  
Pain. Pain was all she could register as the electricity entered her body. She froze, stiff and still as it moved through her, burning her bones and scorching her skin. Her brain was hot, white, hurt. She couldn’t take this, he would kill her.  
He must’ve twisted the dial again because the electricity stopped. The pain was still there, fizzing through her body. Her hands shook and she clenched them into fists to steady them, taking one shaky breath.  
“Again.”  
The clone switched the dial and the white heat was back. Her brain felt like it was obliterated, she could not think, only feel this pain. Her teeth clenched she refused to let out a scream. She didn’t even know if she could. The electricity pulsed through her. She wanted it to stop, no matter what the ending was.  
After what felt like hours the clone turned the dial again and the current ceased. She gasped, panting, limbs shaking. Her jaw fell open, bloody dribble seeped out of her mouth where she had unconsciously bitten her cheeks. It slid slowly, creeping down her chin. She straightened her fingers, the nails also caked in the fresh blood from her palms.  
“Answer now.”  
She stared at the floor for a long time, before slowly she started to laugh, flecks of blood splattering onto her legs. Her shoulders shook with mirth and she gradually looked up, staring into those eyes again, so like Hordak’s in shape, so unlike them in every other way. He wouldn’t get to her.  
“Oh. Do you know how many times a day I get electrocuted in my work? Lots. You’re not showing me anything new.”  
The clone just cocked his head again, turned up the dial and left the room, leaving Entrapta to a world of pain. This time a yell did escape her lips. She didn’t even notice.


	4. Flagship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Violence, injury detail.

Impersonation. 

The green door slid open and two clones walked in, one dragged Entrapta behind him, pulling her along by the hair. The other kicked Kadroh in the chest, sending him sprawling with a yelp into the corner of the room. He tried to rise but received another firm kick, this time he stayed down, watching as the clone dumped Entrapta’s body in the middle of the room.   
“Your turn next… Brother. I’ll leave you to have a little think about how our conversation is going to go.”  
“We will all return to Prime’s light, and you will help us- or suffer the same fate as the princess.”  
Kadroh whimpered as the clones left the room, the door sealing shut behind them.  
He crawled quickly across the floor, and knelt beside Entrapta. He gulped placing a shaking hand on her shoulder and pulled her round to face him. Her face was smooth and blank, a trail of sticky, congealed blood ran down her neck. Tears sprung to his eyes.  
“Br- Brother Entrapta?”  
He shook her gently. She mumbled something, too quiet for him to hear. He bent his head, cocking a pointed ear.  
“What did you say?”  
“Have they gone?” she breathed, lips barley moving.  
“Yes, they’re gone.”  
“Oh good!” Entrapta sat up suddenly, pushing him out of the way, leaping to her feet. She winced as she did so but remained standing. As she adjusted her welding mask on her head, Kadroh noticed a slight tremor in her hands. She caught him looking and held her hand up to observe it.  
“Just a side effect from electrocution, it will pass soon!”  
Kadroh looked horrified, staring at her hand, then her face.  
“What did they do to you?”  
She turned away and began examining the room in earnest, tapping walls, probing the door with her finger, raising herself up on her hair to feel every inch of the ceiling.  
“Oh, electrocution, torture. They wanted answers from me, which is strange because I told them the truth when they first asked.”  
“Why? What could they possibly want to know?” He began to follow her around the room, watching her nervously, his eyes filled with concern. A couple of times he raised his arms as if to catch her, but she did not fall.  
“They seem to think that Prime’s consciousness still exists somewhere. Which is of course possible, since he appeared to be able to move it freely between clones.”  
Kadroh shuddered at this.  
“However She-Ra ended his consciousness that day. We all saw it, presumably so did they, on top of that the connection was broken. But they still think that She-Ra has stolen it and is hiding it somewhere. I don’t think Adora even knows how to do that. Ohhh, I wonder if I could? I have some theories! If only I had my lab!”  
Kadroh watched as she ran her fingers over the green panel where it met the top of the door frame, her face so close she was almost touching it. He sighed.  
“They would do anything to bask in his light again. I… I remember feeling something similar when I was disconnected from the hive mind. There was such a loss… This feeling of being alone for the very first time. I’d never felt that before. I was lucky that I found friends, someone to guide me, and I was never truly alone, even then. But… The isolation. It was so quiet. I’d never heard silence before that moment, a whole network cut in an instant. They want that support, that comfort back so much that they’re willing to believe anything to find it.”  
“But… Horde Prime was bad, wasn’t he? He was controlling you? The connection is a bad thing, right?”  
He smiled, sadly.  
“It is a bad thing. But it’s a powerful thing. That’s why I’m so grateful to you and the others for providing that feeling- just without the bad.”  
Entrapta paused in her observations, she lowered her mask, head bowed.  
“Before the princesses, I had to build all of my friends. I got lucky too.”  
She moved further along the wall, still feeling, supporting her body using her long hair, muttering to herself as she did so. He gazed at her sadly.  
“I’m afraid we wont get out of this… Do you think they’ll save us?” Kadroh whispered, his voice cracking a little. She was still for a moment before turning to him, still raised high on her hair.   
“I don’t know how they will know where we are,” she said quietly, before continuing more brightly, “but they’re smart, they’ll think of something. Well, Hordak is... But in the mean time, I’ll get you out, I’ll get you back to them.”  
“And you,” he cried, “you’re getting out too!”  
“I have a plan, but it has a high chance of failing. Seeing as I’ve exhausted all other solutions, however, it appears to be our only option.”  
“Tell me,” he whispered.  
She sighed, approached, and sat cross legged in front of him, she raised her mask again, her face grim.  
“It’s risky because it depends on utilising our weakest skill sets. Acting.”  
He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

They could hear a stream of giggles from the door. It stopped abruptly. He was watching them. She had guessed that he would. Entrapta sat against the wall, her hair wrapped around and around her tightly, as if she was wearing a thick purple blanket, she trembled, whimpering, face hidden beneath her mask. Kadroh paced the room, worriedly, throwing glances at Entrapta every now and then.  
“Is he there?” Her voice trembled.   
Kadroh looked at the door and replied clearly, “he’s there.”  
“Tell him… Tell him I’ll talk.”  
She flinched as the door opened and the clone stepped through. He surveyed the room, carefully, slowly, though his blank gaze kept wandering back to the huddled Entrapta.  
“The princess talks,” he said, emotionlessly.  
“I just want it to end.”  
“The princess talks, no more pain.”  
“Princess no! Don’t tell him anything! You’ll put us all in danger.”  
“I’m sorry Kadroh… I have to.”  
“Talk.”  
Kadroh gasped and turned away, holding his face theatrically, but the clone only looked at Entrapta, he cocked his head.  
“I… I am She-Ra.”  
“She-Ra is different.”  
“I change shape… It’s the magic.” She let out a sob. “I’ll release him, Horde Prime. Just don’t hurt me again.”  
The clone giggled, a long stream this time, it still didn’t reach his eyes. He gently laid his long fingers across his lips and they ceased.  
“Do it.”  
Shakily, Entrapta stood, and walked across the room, avoiding the reach of the clone. She stood in front of Kadroh. He stared down at her with wide green eyes.   
“I need a vessel,” she said, shakily, pointing at Kadroh. “He is healthy.”  
“No!” cried Kadroh, “no, don’t do this to me! I’ll be gone.”  
“You should be honoured,” said the clone, looking at Kadroh, “to bask so closely to Lord Prime’s light.”  
“Don’t do this,” said Kadroh, backing away, but Entrapta reached up, placing both hands on his head.   
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.  
Kadroh began shaking, as Entrapta held her hands tightly on his head, avoiding his wound. Her hair raised up around her, curling and coiling like snakes. Kadroh shook harder, until he stopped, frozen still, eyes wide, then collapsed to the floor. Entrapta stepped away, cowering against the wall. The clone stared at Kadroh’s body, his head cocked.  
Slowly Kadroh opened his eyes, he blinked, then rose, holding himself tall. He carefully flexed his arms, examining his hands. He slicked back his ruffled hair and smiled a cold, cruel, smile. He turned to the clone.  
“Little Brother, you have done me a great service today. No longer am I imprisoned by the trickery they call ‘magic’,” his voice was soft, layered in threat, “you and you alone have been the most loyal, pure.”  
The clone started at Kadroh for a long time before bowing low. Something was happening behind those blank eyes. Something returned to them, a small glimmer.  
“My Lord Prime,” he gasped, and as he raised his head his eyes had filled with tears, he gazed with an expression so full, so full of joy and devotion it caused his words to catch. The lifelessness gone from him.  
“Now, we must rebuild my empire. But first, your Brother’s have displeased me. You saw it yourself, I can see, too. They chose to lead, directing you, hoping to replace me in my short absence. But you didn’t, you obeyed, you alone, know your place. You are worthy. Brother, we have work to do!”  
“Anything, my Lord. My heart is filled with joy to gaze upon you once more, I have longed for this moment,” said the clone.  
“We must rid this ship of disloyalty. You are up to this task. Go, now, and erase your compromised Brothers. I will deal with the so called ‘She-Ra’, it will be a pleasure.”  
Kadroh smirked as the clone bowed, backing out of the door.  
“Yes, my Lord Prime, thank you. It will be done!”  
He left, his footsteps rapidly receding down the corridor until there was only silence.  
“It worked!” cried Entrapta, surprised, pushing up her mask, “you did great! Perhaps you can add that as one of your skill sets after all.”  
Kadroh rubbed his face, hands shaking a little.  
“I still do not feel good about this. I’ve just sentenced those clones to death, I could have helped them! I could have easily been them...”  
Entrapta looked at him hard.  
“I don’t like it either, but they were going to hurt you,” she said fiercely, “I won’t let that happen. If I could think of another solution, I’d take it, but there’s nothing. I couldn’t crack the door, there’s nothing here to work with and there’s usually always SOMETHING. I know deception is bad, and what I asked you to do was wrong, but I can’t let them hurt you and now the door is open and I can take you home.”  
Kadroh smiled weakly as she laid her hair on his shoulder before ruffling his hair up again.  
“And waiting for the others?”  
She looked away.  
“They’re variables, I couldn’t calculate that.”  
“You were just trying to comfort me earlier, weren’t you? Why don’t you think they will come for you?” 

Message.

Prime’s flagship loomed in the window as they approached, Darla’s engines carrying them rapidly towards it. It was still a bizarre monument to the final battle, a tree in space. The huge ship had foliage growing from it, a trunk-like bark growing up the sides. They could still see patches of white metal through it however, and the landing deck was visible. Hordak was staring intently at it, his fingers clenched on the control panel.  
“Alright Darla,” said Adora, hands on hips, “take us in.”  
“Yeah,” said Catra, lounging in the chair, she yawned, “at least we sort of made it to space today.”  
“I have an incoming transmission, would you like to accept it?” asked Darla.  
“That’ll be her!” cried Glimmer relieved, “yes we’ll accept. Hi Ent-”  
She stopped mid sentence, mouth hanging open as Darla projected the face of a clone into the air before them.   
“Still your engines now, we have taken this ship in the name of Horde Prime. You may not enter. Turn away.”  
They looked at each other dumbfounded. Hordak tensed at the sound of the voice but did not look up, shutting his eyes tight, face a grimace. He clenched his hands into fists, claws gouging into the metal.  
“We’ve come for our friends,” said Adora, loudly, stepping forward, she frowned, “Horde Prime is over, give it up, we’re coming in.”  
The clone smiled.  
“If any of you set foot on this ship we will kill them. How many are you willing to lose? The choice is yours.”  
“Darla, end the transmission,” said Bow quickly.  
The screen shut down.  
“Right, let’s go and get them,” said Adora, reaching up and summoning her sword from the air. She caught Catra’s eye briefly, her ears were lowered.  
“Here we go again...” Catra muttered to herself sadly, she sighed, turning to look out of the window at the flagship. Adora looked guilty then gathered herself, frowning, sword firmly in hand.  
“Okay, gather round. Glimmer, you teleport us in. Melog? Can you make us invisible again? We don’t know where they are but we can find them.”  
“Umm Adora?” said Glimmer.  
“What?”  
“I can’t teleport, we’re in space, Etheria’s magic only works on the surface, remember?”  
Adora paused for a second.  
“Oh yeah, right. Okay, new plan, me and Melog will go in, invisible, I’ll just jump us over there and-”  
“You’re not going in there alone,” hissed Catra, her eyes flashing angrily, “I can’t believe after everything that happened a month ago you think a solo mission is an option.”  
“Okay… Well, everyone, suit up! I’ll jump us all over there, Melog will make us invisible.” She looked at Catra and mouthed “I’m sorry.”  
Catra sighed sadly. Melog yowled, gently, nuzzling into Catra’s leg.  
“No!” said Bow. “That’s not gonna work. All the doors are sealed and even Melog can’t melt us through walls.”  
“I’ve got the sword Bow, I’ll just cut a hole.”  
“In space?!” he shrieked. “Adora. Everything not nailed down will be sucked out. No one in there will be able to breath, including Entrapta and Wrong Hordak. That’s assuming the clones won’t notice us cutting a hole in the side of the ship and kill them before we get to them.”  
“There’s got to be a way in,” she cried, “a vent, or a rubbish chute or something!”  
“Do you really want to take that risk?” asked Bow, “If they see us one of them will die. Broken as that ship is we don’t know how much of the systems are still working. Entrapta’s been coming here for tech so it can’t all be useless. They could be alerted as soon as there’s a breach.”  
“So… What can we do?” asked Adora defeated. Bow sighed.  
“I don’t know, but we’ll think of something, we always do.”  
Hordak let out an angry hiss and turned angrily.   
“Did none of you think to question the clones before you allowed them free reign?”  
“Of course we checked them!” cried Glimmer, angrily, “but there is a lot of them. Besides, forgiveness and second chances are kind of our thing, remember?”  
He turned and roared in anger, smashing his fist into the wall of the ship, leaving a dent. He picked up a box of tools, hurling it across the room, Glimmer had to duck as it smashed into the wall behind her, scattering its contents everywhere.  
“If a single hair on her head is harmed I will tear them limb from limb. I will crush their skulls between my fingers to dust. I will burn them all. They will rue the day they crossed me. Darla take us over there, smash through their defences!”  
“Darla don’t!” cried Adora, and the ship remained stationary, hovering just short of the flagships landing deck.  
“They’ll kill them before you have a chance to do anything!” gasped Glimmer.  
“With this suit, she has made me strong, I will use that strength and for her I WILL END THEM!” he roared.  
“Hordak,” said Bow gently, “you won’t be quick enough. They’ll get to her before you can.”  
“Then, then...” Hordak slumped, the fight leaving him. Falling to his knees, he raised his head, ears low, desperate red eyes welling with tears. “What can I do?”  
Bow knelt, facing him, “I don’t know yet, but we can still try.”  
Hordak looked around the room at all of them, all of the people he had hurt most in the world.  
“Help me to… Help her. Please.”  
He started hard at Adora, who sighed, before saying firmly, “We’re not giving up, and you can’t either.”  
“Maybe we can persuade them. Darla? Resume the transmission.”

Friendly Fire.

In the armoury a clone was gathering weapons. Nearby he had a small cart onto which he was loading everything they would need if those outside were to attack. His Brother was confident that they wouldn’t. It was the great weakness of their enemies that they were so unwilling to risk the lives of one of their own. He and any of his Brothers would die if it would serve their great empire. No, here, once again, he and his Brothers were proving their superiority; the ship outside contained far more soldiers than they had, but they would not attack, for fear of losing the two inside. Two! Such a small number.  
He placed more weapons onto his cart. They needed fire power. Just in case.   
Suddenly, the lights failed and the room was plunged into darkness. No matter. He felt around on his cart and took hold of one of the guns. This one was equipped with a torch. He felt gently down its side until he found the switch, careful to avoid accidentally firing the weapon. A thin beam of light appeared from the end. It fell onto the floor nearby in a small circle. For a spilt second he thought he saw a… No, there was no foot. An optical glitch. He picked up the gun and shone it around the room until he found the next weapon on his list.   
Getting close to the shelf to examine the labels he heard something behind him. Spinning on the spot he shone the beam around, scouring the area. He saw nothing but the room, rows of shelves, storage bins, a desk and computer. He turned back to the shelf before he paused. Where was his cart?  
Frowning he retraced his steps to where the cart had been standing. It was gone. He whirred around, looking everywhere. It had been parked on a flat surface, the engines were not running, there was no reason that it would move.  
“Brothers? Are you there? Have you moved the cart?”  
There was no reply. He frowned, confused. Were the rebels on board? He didn’t think so; one of his brothers would have sounded the alarm, or alerted him in some other manner. At the very least he’d have heard the sound of battle. So where was the cart? He was quite sure that it had been here. A mental glitch perhaps? He began to worry. If he was defective now then without Prime to fix him he would remain so. Was this to be his future? He resigned himself. He would serve the empire to his fullest capabilities irregardless. When Lord Prime returned he would judge him fit or unfit for service.  
A squeaking noise came from his left.  
Slowly he turned the light beam towards the source of the sound. The cart was gently rolling towards him. No one was pushing it. He stared at it until it came to a halt, gently bumping into his leg.   
“Is anyone there?”   
A stream of giggles came out of the darkness to his right. He spun around to find himself face to face with one of his Brothers. The defective one. They had kept him around because they were so few in numbers. The loyal ones. The pure. His Brother placed his fingers over his own lips, stemming the source of the giggles.   
“Lord Prime isn’t pleased with you, Brother,” he whispered, slowly raising his hands and placing them on the clones head. With a sharp twist he snapped his neck. His body crumpled to the floor.  
“One gone. Two, three. Prime will be pleased with me.”

The clone sat, eyes trained on the sights, both hands on the controls, awaiting the order to fire. He watched the enemy ship closely. If they didn’t leave soon he would be allowed to eradicate them. His Brother was currently in dialogue with them, once complete he would give the signal. His fingers tensed around the controls. Wait, he must wait. Ideally they did not want to shoot. It would give away their position, and since their force was currently so small it would not do to invite open warfare with the rebels. Not until their Lord Prime was returned to them.  
The ship was tiny, ancient. He scoffed. He could obliterate it right now without any effort. Lord Prime’s ships were far superior. Everyone found that out sooner or later…  
He felt the chair swoop backwards, titling fully down and found himself looking up at the face of one of his Brothers.  
“Brother!” he said, annoyed, “I am tasked with keeping the rebels covered. What is the meaning of this hindrance?”  
The other clone observed him, cocking his head to one side.  
“Not talking like a Brother any more.”  
“Nor do you. But when Lord Prime is returned he can cast out our shadows and we will be reborn, new and clean.”  
“He’s not very happy with you, either.”  
The clone pulled out a short blade and placed it on the side of his Brothers head, and pressed it in, forcing it through his skull and into the soft tissue of his brain.  
The last thing the clone heard was a stream of giggles before he slumped, lifeless in the seat. Blood pooled in a thick river onto the floor below it.  
“One and two mine. Three and then to Prime.”

Mother.

“This way!”   
Entrapta ran up another corridor that looked much the same as every other corridor on the ship. Behind her she dragged Kadroh, her hair wrapped firmly around his waist. He stumbled along behind her.   
“Are you sure?” he panted.   
“Yes!”  
“You were sure last time too!”  
“Well now I’m surer.”  
Kadroh didn’t answer, he was too out of breath, but followed her irregardless. Her other bunch flapped along behind her, occasionally hitting him lightly on the head.   
“If only I had my tracker pad. I had begun to map this place out. I had it colour coded and everything, places I’d been, places I wanted to go, where the best tech was. Oh!”  
Entrapta stopped suddenly and Kadroh slammed into the back of her, falling to the floor.  
“I can just hack into the computer system, it’s bound to have a map of some kind, right?” She turned to look at him, then looked down in surprise, “what are you doing on the floor?”  
He just shook his head, and scrambled to his feet, catching his breath.  
“It might not, all the clones were linked into the hive mind, all our- their information was shared. A map would be redundant.”  
“Ohhhh, think of all the data you could collect with that many bodies, each working towards a common goal,” she said, her eyes shining.  
“Or how many worlds you could destroy, in Primes case,” Kadroh replied, pointedly.   
“Right, bad thing. But still...”  
“Brother Entrapta, the landing deck? We need to get out of here. They might find us soon. The others may not believe our ruse...”  
“Right, right. I think it’s this way!”  
“You think?”  
“I guess it’s this way!”  
She darted off again up the corridor, her long hair reaching back and pulling him along. After a great many wrong turns down featureless corridors they eventually found themselves on the landing deck. It was a large, open area with huge doors at one end that could be opened to allow smaller ships to dock. There were a few scattered around, including their own bike, which had been left undisturbed since they arrived on it. A single clone manned the area, standing in front of a bank of computers. He was engaged in the screen before him, on which they could see the faces of their friends in Darla; Adora, Catra, Glimmer, Bow, Melog, and Hordak.  
“Hord-”  
Entrapta’s cry was cut off by Kadroh who wrapped a hand around her mouth and dragged her behind a large stack of crates. They crouched, hiding there.   
“Brother Entrapta, we must not alert him to our presence!” whispered Kadroh worriedly in her ear.   
She mumbled something into his hand and he released her, looking at her questioningly.  
“Your hand tastes saltier than expected, I wonder if you excrete sweat in a similar manner to Etherians? Will you let me take samples? I’d like to know if the composition is the same.”  
“You… You licked my hand?” asked Kadroh, dumbstruck.  
“It was in my mouth!”  
He opened his mouth to say something then shook his head.  
“We must work out a way to get past him and out of this ship.”  
Entrapta observed the scene before them, calculating.  
“We can reach the bike before he can, but the computer opens the door. If I could get close to the door I could adjust the wiring and force it to open. If you could get to the bike at the same time you can take off, and try and catch me after I’m sucked out.”  
“Brother Entrapta, I am not fond of the idea of you floating around in space.”  
“It’s fun! I’ve done it before! Though last time I did have a space suit. And a really long piece of rope.”  
“And if I do not get to the bike in time, or catch you, we will both perish.”  
“Then we’ll have to be quick!” She made to stand, but Kadroh caught her arm.  
“I have another plan.”  
“Oh?”  
“I’m feeling rather bold, thanks to our daring escape... I think we can take him in combat.”  
“We could… You and him are matched physically, with my input the odds are in our favour, even with my limited fighting skills. Although I may have to re evaluate my skill sets after the acting earlier,” she replied thoughtfully, sizing up the clone.   
“Or...”  
Entrapta looked at him questioningly.  
“It’s a little cowardly, but given the circumstances… We could just sneak up and bonk him on the head.”  
“It would mean that fighting isn’t necessary!” she said, rummaging quickly in the crate in front of her. She drew out a large wrench. “Would you like to do the honours?”  
Kadroh smiled at her and took it. She started to rise again but he stopped her, wrapping his arms around her middle.  
“What are you doing?” she asked.  
“It’s called a hug. Brother Bow showed me how to do it.”  
“Oh,” she said, and wrapped her arms around him in return, awkwardly patting him on the back.  
“Let’s go home,” she whispered after a while, and together they stood and slipped silently across the floor, she on her hair, he tip toeing.   
Once behind him, Kadroh raised the wrench and whacked the clone firmly across the back of the head. He went down without even a sound, unconscious.  
“Entrpata!” came Hordak’s voice from the screen.  
“Hello Hordak, hello Princesses! You’ve come to pick us up!” she said waving, Kadroh smiling up at the image beside her. She began tapping at the controls beneath the screen as she spoke, adjusting the gravity and atmosphere settings and the landing deck door opened for them.  
“No-!” Hordak replied before his warning became unnecessary.   
The last clone had crept up behind them, even more quietly than they had managed. They hadn’t noticed. He hauled Kadroh around to face him, face and eyes filled full of rage, their blankness long gone with the depth of his anger.   
“Not Prime.”  
He raised his knife and plunged it into Kadroh’s chest, dragging it down through the flesh, cracking the bone until it reached the soft tissue of his stomach where it cut like butter. Guts began bubbling out from the wound as blood began covering him entirely, flowing out of the gap. He slumped against the control panel and began sliding to the ground, feet slipping in his own blood. He fell.   
“No!” screamed Entrapta and she dove, holding him to her, cradling his head with one arm. He looked at her, eyes wide with shock, realisation slowly sinking in.  
“B- Bro- Mother,” he gurgled. His eyes closed.


	5. Interior

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW- Gore

Blood.

An arrow shot by with a sharp twang. The clone was hit and immediately trapped in a thick green sludge. He fell to the floor, struggling against his bonds. Bow stepped forward, another arrow already cocked, covering the area for any more clones, not realising that this was the last. He blanched when he saw Kadroh.  
“No,” growled Entrapta, staring down at Kadroh’s blood smudged face. His eyes were closed, his face relaxed.  
She began weaving her hair around his torso.  
“I’ve not spent all this time working on Hordak’s body not to know yours too.”  
Her hair, working in individual strands pulled his blood vessels together.  
“Every vein.”  
There was a soft slick as she pulled them towards their serrated ends.  
“Every bone.”  
Her hair hauled his divided ribcage whole with a solid crack.  
“Every organ.”  
There was a soft, wet sound as she scooped his guts back into his stomach area.  
Her face was set as she pulled each fragment of Kadroh back together, a look of wild intensity burning in her eyes.  
“I wont just let you die. Not when I can save you.”  
She cocooned him tightly, every strand of her hair pulling together his parted torso. Blood leaked mercilessly around them. She tightened her grasp. Kadroh limp on either end of her hairs torsion.  
“Help me get him back to Dryl,” she gasped, hair and body wrapped so tightly around the clone that they appeared inseparable. His blood began to stain her purple hair and she looked at them desperately, arms holding the bundle tightly to her.  
“How?” gasped Adora, staring at the blood, horrified. She looked pale. Glimmer hovered behind her, frozen, looking at the scene.  
“Take the clone,” said Hordak, calmly, marching past them and scooping Entrapta and Kadroh both in his arms easily. “Drag him into the ship and take him prisoner. We set our course for Dryl.”  
He walked back into Darla, docked in the landing bay, supporting them both in his arms, he grasped them closely. A spotted trail of blood marked his path.  
“And hurry,” he called back over his shoulder.  
Bow and Adora snatched up the fallen clone and hauled him into Darla after Hordak. The others rapidly followed.  
Once inside Darla, Hordak turned sternly towards the collected crew.  
“To Dryl,” he said simply before carting Entrapta and Kadroh into Entrapta’s old sleeping chamber. He gently put them down and helped Entrapta arrange Kadroh on the bunk.  
“Can you save him?” he asked, looking down into her worried face. His ears were lowered but he exuded an air of calm, unflinching at the blood and task ahead.  
“I think so...” she whispered, her voice small, looking at the clone on the bed, “I have to.”  
The engines around them whirred into life and they felt themselves move, and rapidly descend to the surface of Etheria. Their improvements to Darla had been worth it, she was even quicker now. They could hear the others talking from the control room, but here they were quiet save the ragged breathing of Kadroh. Entrapta looked at him and her face crumpled. Noticing this, Hordak placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
“I will assist you in any way I can. I know that if anyone can do this, then it is you.”  
She smiled up at him, eyes still filled with worry.  
“For him, for Kadroh.”  
“Kadroh?” asked Hordak.  
“He gave himself a name,” she said simply, stroking Kadroh’s pale cheek, and smoothed back his white hair, smearing streaks of blood into it. Hordak gazed down at him too, his hand remained on her shoulder. She still held Kadroh tightly and the blood had slowed down its leaking. She hoped it was because it was struggling to escape her binding, not the alternative; that it was running out.  
Suddenly Glimmer burst into the room, interrupting the silence. She held up her hands which were emitting sparkles.  
“We’re close enough to teleport!” she gasped, running towards them, “Where do you need to be?”  
“The lab!” cried Entrapta, and she carefully picked up Kadroh again, Hordak jumping to help her while Glimmer grabbed all three of them and teleported them with a whoosh into Entrapta’s lab. She hovered around awkwardly as Entrapta and Hordak leapt into action. Hordak dragged a long metal table into the centre of the room and threw a plastic sheet over it, while Entrapta placed Kadroh on top of it. His breathing had become faint. As she moved him a little blood splattered to the floor. Glimmer swayed a little on the spot.  
“I’m just gonna go… See if the others are okay.” She left quickly.  
“I need my tools, a soldering iron, some clamps, there’s a med kit around here somewhere too,” said Entrapta, bending to examine Kadroh, but Hordak was already rummaging in the boxes. He gathered up an armful of items and placed them on a surface near her. She grabbed the soldering iron and began parting her hair, carefully so that she could see more of the wound. Hordak was unclipping some of his armour, revealing his thin, blackened arm. He plunged his hand into the med kit and drew out some needles, tubing and a plastic fluid sack. He pushed one needle into Kadroh’s arm and the other into his own, the tubing and sack connecting them. He began tensing his fist and blood ran smoothly down the tubes, into the sack, then into Kadroh.  
“What are you doing?” she asked, face close to Kadroh’s chest, sealing the veins and arteries back together, one by one.  
“I’m giving him my blood. We will be a match.”  
“He’s lost so much, he’ll need more than you can give.”  
“Luckily we have another perfect match then. The prisoner.”  
She didn’t answer, sweating as she rapidly moved across Kadroh’s torso, holding sections of him together with strands of her hair, slowly releasing them as she cauterised the breaches, one by one. She worked quickly, he had already lost so much blood, they had been too slow moving him, the wound too great. Below her she could see his lungs gently inflating and deflating, their breaths short and shallow.  
Everywhere she seemed to look there was another bleed, another strand of her hair holding two seeping ends together. Her eyes flicked around focusing on the worst. A large artery near his neck pulsed faintly, dropping its precious cargo from its ruptured end. It fell, dribbling into Kadroh’s chest cavity. Two strands of her long hair held it together, she could feel it rather than see it; most of the purple was stained red now.  
Raising the soldering iron in her hand she guided it towards the artery but stopped as she watched it shake. The tremble was back. She sighed in frustration and took the iron tightly in a loop of hair instead, resting her useless hand on one of Kadroh’s instead. Delicately she sealed off the bleed, concentrating more than she had ever cared to before. Neither she nor Hordak mentioned the stench of burning flesh, which permeated the air.  
Gradually she worked her way over the open veins, completely immersed in her task. Hordak watched her, her usually animated face set in a frown. She was able to draw further away as she slowly unwrapped sections of her hair, the tiny tubes again supporting themselves.  
After a long while she sighed and stepped back, finally able to be parted from Kadroh. She examined her work. His torso hung open still but the bleeding had stopped.  
“I’ve sealed up all of his veins, we’ll have to be careful though, they can easily rupture until they heal up. The knife seems to have missed his major organs but his ribcage is still parted. I need to clamp it back together then seal him up. If we’re careful and give him several blood transfusions… I don’t know…”  
She looked up at Hordak then immediately frowned and leant over the table, plucking the needle from his arm.  
“That’s enough! You’ve given too much!”  
Hordak looked pale and swayed a little on the box he had perched on.  
“I’m fine, I can giv-”  
“You’re not fine,” she said firmly. “Go and get the clones blood, lots of it. Drink some water and eat something too. I need you here, conscious.”  
He opened his mouth to argue but she stared him down and he nodded, gathering more fluid bags and tubing.  
“I’ll return shortly,” he said, leaving the room. A nervous Bow was hovering in the corridor, he followed Hordak, showing him to where they were keeping the prisoner. Entrapta looked down at Kadroh. His chest open and shining, wet insides displayed, his face, soft and pale, his breathing, far too weak. Now that she was alone she allowed her eyes to well with tears, briefly, before blinking them away. No, Kadroh needed her still.  
Bending forward she placed her hair either side of his ribcage and squeezed it together, holding it in place as she lined up the breaks in the bone. Once she was sure it was right she began clamping it back together using metal ties at strategic points. He stirred, whimpering in pain but she continued, holding him down as he twitched weakly against her restraint. It was the only way to help him.  
Once all of the ties were in place she slowly let go of his bones. The ties held. Breathing a sigh of relief she turned to his stomach and began rearranging his guts, holding the slippery tubes carefully, putting them back in their rightful place by memory. How many times had she looked at scans of Hordak’s torso when building his suit? Kadroh’s was exactly the same, perhaps a little less wasted looking.  
Holding the guts in place she began sewing his flesh back together, taking her time, as the wound began to shrink, hiding his insides from the world once again. Once finished she looked down critically at her handiwork. He would have a huge scar. If he lived.  
Shaking her head she began cleaning the area, he could so easily get an infection. They had sterilised everything but he had been exposed for so long, the knife, her hair; none of that was clean. She could only do what she could now, and put him on a course of medicine. Quickly she began binding him tightly, wrapping a bandage around him, holding him a few inches above the table. The door opened and Hordak walked in, holding several bags of blood.  
“I took as much as I could without killing him.”  
She didn’t reply, just looked at him through tired eyes as he hooked Kadroh up to one of the bags and suspended it above him.  
“You’ve done so well,” said Hordak gently, “No other could have done this… Kadroh is lucky to have you.”  
“It’s my fault he got hurt,” she admitted, her voice cracking, looking down at the floor, “if it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t have even been on that ship.”  
“There is none to blame but Horde Prime and the clone himself,” he said firmly, holding her by the shoulder, “you did not wield that knife, but you did repair him. Your actions have potentially saved his life. Do not torture yourself with ‘what ifs’. Trust me, it does not help matters.”  
She sighed and leant her head against his chest, burrowing her face into it. He raised his eyebrows in surprise then slowly lowered a clawed hand to her head. He held it gently, closing his own eyes.  
“Thank you, Hordak,” she mumbled.  
“You should rest now, I will watch him.”

Open.

Adora, Catra, Glimmer and Bow waited in the living room where they had spent the night before. The atmosphere was a far cry from the warmth of that evening. None of them spoke much. Adora sat on a chair, leaning forward, hands clasped, Glimmer beside her. Catra perched on the back of a settee while Bow paced the room, occasionally visiting the corridor outside of the lab, hoping for an update.  
When they had landed in the square, they were met by Glimmer. Between them they had dragged the prisoner into an empty store room and locked the door, leaving food, water and a blanket. They had then retired to the living room where they had been ever since, waiting for news on Kadroh.  
“We should have listened to Hordak, he knew something was wrong,” agonised Adora.  
“Even if we did, we probably wouldn’t have got there any sooner,” said Glimmer, taking her hand. She looked at Bow for support, but he wasn’t listening, just pacing.  
The time seemed to drag with no news. They brooded, lost in their own private worlds.  
Hours later an exhausted looking Hordak appeared at the door. They all turned to face him, the worry in the air was palpable.  
“He is stable,” said Hordak, his voice gravelly, “he has received several blood transfusions and is sleeping. For now, he will live.”  
“Oh thank god,” cried Bow, falling to his knees, his eyes glistening with tears.  
“Alright!” cried Glimmer, teleporting across the room and jumping on Bow’s back.  
Adora looked at Catra, a huge smile on her face, Catra returned it, briefly, before leaping to her feet, and slipping out of the room. Adora’s face fell into a frown as she watched her go.  
“I am going to return to monitor his progress.” Hordak turned then paused in the doorway, “I just thought you would all appreciate knowing.”  
“Thanks, Hordak. I’ll come and take over later,” said Bow. Hordak nodded briefly then hurried back down the corridor.  
“This is great!” said Glimmer, “He’s going to be okay!”  
“For now,” said Bow, holding her close and smiling down at her.  
Adora sighed.  
“Guys, I’m gonna go see what’s up with Catra.”  
They didn’t seem to hear her.

Adora found Catra in their room, she was sitting on the bed, legs pulled up to her chest. She didn’t look up as Adora entered.  
“Catra?” asked Adora, perching on the end of the bed. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy that he’s okay?”  
Catra sighed with frustration.  
“Of course I am, Adora. I’m glad he’s alive. But that doesn’t stop me being annoyed with you.”  
“With… Me?” said Adora, softly.  
Catra glared at her and turned away, body still tense.  
“Talk to me, Catra.”  
Catra let out a frustrated sigh.  
“You were just gonna do it again! Just going off, risking your life, leaving us, leaving me. I’ve had enough.”  
Adora stared at Catra. A lump rose in her throat, she felt tears prickle her eyes. Her heart began to pound.  
“You’ve had enough?” she asked softly.  
“Yes. I just need a break.”  
Adora felt her eyes spill over as the tears ran silently down her cheeks. Catra still hadn’t turned. Her chest hurt as she forced the sobs back.  
“You can’t leave me!” she gasped, her voice sounded strangled, “please Catra… Not after everything. I need you!”  
Adora slipped down from the side of the bed and onto her knees. Her brain was a whirl. It wasn’t registering properly.  
“What?” asked Catra, finally turning, “Adora, what are you talking about?”  
She slipped off the bed and held Adora’s hand.  
“I’m not leaving you, dummy. Will you just listen?”  
Adora raised her tear stained face, and Catra smiled despite herself.  
“I’m. Not. Leaving. You.”  
“You’re not?”  
“No!” said Catra, exasperated, standing. “You always think the worst. No. I need a break from the constant fighting. I thought after Prime was gone we’d be able to… Just be. Ride off into space, whatever. But no, suddenly we’re in danger again. And then you try to go running off by yourself. Again. It just hurts. I thought we were a team now. And you were just gonna leave me on that ship while you went off to fight. You can’t leave me behind again.”  
She paused gasping and Adora looked up at her, eyes wide.  
“You’re right,” she whispered, and Catra raised her eyebrows, surprised.  
“I was just doing the same thing as always. I guess I just hate the idea of anyone else getting hurt when She-Ra is supposed to protect everyone. But I know… She-Ra is stronger when we’re all working together. I guess I just forgot that, in the moment.”  
Catra sniffed. Adora stood, shakily.  
“And I’m never leaving you behind again.”  
Catra sniffed again and turned away.  
“Hey,” said Adora gently, “are you crying?”  
“No,” said Catra, crying.  
Adora hugged her close, wrapping her arms tightly around her.  
“Hey, get off me, I’m still mad at you!”  
Adora smiled into Catra’s neck.  
“No you’re not. When you love someone, you forgive them, even when they’ve been an idiot.”  
“Well I don’t,” scowled Catra, but she laughed as Adora nuzzled into her neck, “stop it!”  
“Nope,” grinned Adora as Catra wriggled to face her, still wrapped in Adora’s arms.  
“I hate you sometimes,” said Catra, rolling her eyes.  
“No you don’t,” smiled Adora, kissing Catra gently. “But I am sorry, you’re right. I fell back into the same pattern, it won’t happen again.”  
“Say it again.”  
“You were right. You were right! Happy now?”  
“A bit,” smirked Catra, “but I know how I’ll be happier.”  
“How?” breathed Adora.  
Catra cocked an eyebrow.  
“Okay,” said Adora, pushing Catra back onto the bed. “Since I’m in your debt, what do you want?”  
“In my debt?”  
“Yup, that’s what you get for opening up about your feelings instead of running away. So what will it be?”  
Catra looked stunned then smirked. She bent her head and growled something in Adora’s ear.  
“Really?”  
“Really,” purred Catra, licking her lips.  
“Okay,” said Adora, somewhat surprised. She rolled onto her back and Catra lay on top of her.  
She pinned Adora there for a moment before settling down in the crook of her arm curling her body against her. Adora pulled her close and began playing with Catra’s hair. They clung to each other in the dim light of the room, undisturbed. After a while Catra began emitting a soft purring. Adora closed her eyes and smiled a small smile to herself. 

Failures.

Hordak stretched in the chair, reaching his long arms above his head and pointing his feet. He was still in the lab, Kadroh lay on the table, his chest rising and falling with shallow gasps, he was hooked up to another blood bag that was slowly replenishing that which he had lost. Hordak had also given him a course of medicine, in an attempt to avoid an infection. After that he had kept himself busy by cleaning up the room, removing the tools and mopping the floor, he had finished by gently cleaning away the stains from Kadroh’s face and torso, removing his ruined clothing and dressing him carefully in something fresher. For the last few hours he had monitored his Brother closely, only leaving to update the others of his progress. He had consumed a small meal and his strength had returned a little but he still felt weakened from his own blood loss.  
He gazed across the room at the tiny form of Entrapta. She hadn’t left after the surgery, just curled up on a large chest and slept almost immediately. Hordak had covered her with a dust sheet, it was all he could find in the lab in the way of a blanket.  
As he was staring at her he heard Kadroh stir beside him. His eyes flicked to the clone, who let out a whimper and opened his eyes blearily. He started to sit but Hordak caught his shoulders.  
“Try not to move,” he said, as soothingly as he could muster.  
Beneath his fingers Kadroh began to tremble, violently, fangs chattering together, there was still a fog over his eyes. Hordak searched quickly through the med bag until he found what he was looking for: a foil blanket. He unfurled it and spread it over Kadroh, tucking it in neatly at the sides. It took a few minutes but the shaking slowly subsided as his body began to warm up. Gradually the fog began to clear and as his eyes focused somewhat, he began looking around at his surroundings.  
Kadroh turned his gaze to Hordak.  
“Brother Hordak?” he asked, “is that you?”  
“It is, you are safe, but injured. Stay still.”  
Kadroh drew in a short, sharp breath, beginning to struggle and panic as the memories returned to him. His chest moving rapidly as he looked wildly around him.  
“The clone!” he gasped, “he thought I was Prime, then he knew!”  
“It’s okay,” whispered Hordak, “the clone is secure and he cannot harm you here.”  
Hesitantly Hordak placed a hand on Kadroh’s head and began stroking his soft white hair. He repeated the movement over and over until Kadroh eventually stopped struggling and relaxed his body.  
“It hurts,” he whimpered after a while.  
“I know,” said Hordak, “and it might for a long time. But you will overcome it.”  
They were silent for a long time, Kadroh staring at the ceiling. Eventually Hordak sat back in his chair, confident that the clone was not going to injure himself by moving again.  
“What happened?” asked Kadroh, “I don’t remember.”  
Hordak sighed.  
“You were badly injured. You would have died. Entrapta pieced you back together.”  
“Is she okay?”  
“You should worry about yourself for now. But she is fine, she is over there.”  
Kadroh awkwardly bent his head, following Hordak’s pointed finger. He could just make out Entrapta. His face softened then tensed almost immediately as a wave of pain swept his body.  
“It doesn’t feel right. Not like my body at all.”  
Hordak examined him carefully. There was no leaking and the bandages were still tied securely.  
“You will heal, eventually, but for now you need to be careful, be aware of your limits.”  
“There was so much I wanted to do! Explore the planet, live, learn… I feel like if I move, I’ll break.”  
“You still can do all of that. Your ailment will not hinder you forever.”  
There was a slight catch in his voice, and Kadroh heard it.  
“I’m sorry Brother. I did not think...”  
“No, it is alright.”  
They were silent again, for a while.  
“Does it… Bother you?” asked Kadroh.  
“That I am defective? That without the support of technology I am crippled?”  
Kadroh didn’t say anything, he just turned his large green eyes onto him, but when Hordak was lost in a moody silence, he spoke.  
“Please, Brother? If only to distract me.”  
Hordak sighed and glanced around the room before bending forward and speaking softly.  
“It has always been what has defined me. Horde Prime demanded perfection, and I was… not. I thought that if I can prove myself to him, he would look past my imperfections and see my worth. It is only recently that I realised that I do not need to prove my worth to anyone, not when there are those that see it anyway.”  
He turned away, staring unseeing at the lab around them.  
“This is the first time your body has failed you. I know that it is difficult to come to terms with. In another life neither of us would have been allowed to continue our existence, both failures, but that is not the life we lead any more, we are not failures! You must be patient… Kadroh. With time I think you will heal, you are strong, you have overcome much already. Here… They put time into healing, and I’m starting to think that that is worth something.”  
He looked over at the injured clone, at Kadroh, and saw that his eyes were closed once more, a slight smile in place. Hordak leant back in his chair once more, staring at that smile, his expression unreadable. 

Shower.

“Hey,” said Bow gently, entering the room, “I’ll watch him for a while, you should go get some rest.”  
Hordak looked at the young man before nodding and vacating his post by Kadroh’s side. He stood, moving his stiff body slowly and crossed the room to Entrapta.  
“Entrapta,” he said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open and she looked around for Kadroh, leaping to his side.  
“Is he..?” she asked, bending over him.  
“He is stable. He awoke earlier. We spoke, briefly.”  
Entrapta smiled and a look of relief relaxed her tense features.  
“Come, we should rest a while, Bow will take care of him now.”  
“Thanks Bow,” said Entrapta, patting him on the head as she passed him, leaving the room with a last, worried glance at Kadroh. Hordak followed her up the corridor. Neither spoke as they navigated the maze of the Crypto Castle until they reached Entrapta’s bedroom. He hesitated in the doorway before following her in.  
The room was functional, but not particularly lived in; she spent far more time in her lab. There was a box like bed, some cupboards and shelving, the only personal touch was a wall of printed photographs. Hordak frowned in surprise and studied them. All showed a tiny purple haired girl posing with a variety of robots. He turned to the real, grown, Entrapta who was standing, watching him, a strange expression on her face.  
“We should sleep,” she said.  
He nodded.  
“I agree… But first, don’t you think that you should wash?”  
She looked confused for a moment before looking down at her blood stained clothes and hair, surprised.  
“Oh! Right… Yes. I should probably do that.”  
She turned and opened a second door in the room and soon Hordak could hear the sound of running water and splashing. He hovered awkwardly, unsure if he should leave or not. He was worried about her, however, and for once he did not feel like being alone. Steam began floating out of the open bathroom door. He paced, slowly. Under the bed something caught his eye, he bent to examine it. It was a small dog shaped robot, a simple design, clearly one of her earlier works. He smiled to himself, she didn’t stop, even when she was supposed to be asleep. He returned the bot to its place. As he replaced it he noticed another robotic device under the bed. He reddened as he realised what it was.  
The water stopped suddenly, and Hordak turned at the sound of squelching footsteps. Entrapta had appeared in the doorway, still fully clothed and soaking wet. At least the blood was washed away.  
“Entrapta,” he sighed and walked past her into the bathroom. It was soaking. Shaking his head he found some clean towels, clearly the kitchen staff were responsible for the upkeep of the rooms.  
Placing them on one of the shelves in the bedroom he turned her carefully so that her back was to him and pulled her top up and over her head, placing it just inside the bathroom door. She began helping, stepping out of her shoes and tugging off her dungarees, dropping them with a wet plap onto the pile. He picked up one of the towels and began rubbing her hair with it. It was so heavy with all of the water it contained and the towel was quickly soaked.  
“I can do that,” she said brightly, laughing and she raised her hair either side of her head and it twisted itself together, wringing out the excess water. Hordak chuckled as he shuffled his feet, avoiding the puddle. He paused as he looked down at her, eyes drinking in the soft skin of her back. It was covered in bruises and scratches in various stages of healing. She was not the carefullest of creatures. He followed its smooth curve with his finger, not even thinking, tracing round some of the worst ones until he reached the top of her bum.  
He choked slightly on his breath, eyes wide. He had not even realised that she was completely naked. Hurriedly he placed a towel around her neck, and turned away, awkwardly.  
“Hordak...”  
He glanced round and let out a soft sigh of longing, cutting it off quickly. She had turned, looking up at him with wide, hungry eyes. The towel hung from her neck, covering her breasts. Droplets of water rolled slowly over her skin, falling from her still damp hair. He did not allow himself to look any further down, though he longed to watch their path.  
She took a slow step forward until she was right in front of him, then gently raised herself on her hair, levelling their heights slightly. She pressed herself against him, skin erupting into goosebumps as it touched the cold metal of his armour. It didn’t stop her. She pressed her warm mouth firmly on his, drawing him into a long kiss.  
He breathed hard, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her from the floor, returning the kiss, hard and deep. He closed his eyes, savouring the moment, he wanted to be here, forever. She slipped her arms around his neck and he could feel her warm skin on the back of his neck as her lips moved against his, her hot tongue explored gently into his mouth, past his fangs until it found his.  
Slowly she nudged him backwards until he felt the bed pressing into the back of his knees. He broke off the kiss, suddenly, placing her gently back onto the floor. Scrunching his eyes tightly together as he felt tears pricking behind them, he turned his face away.  
“Entrapta, I am sorry, I cannot do this.”  
“Oh…” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”  
He glanced at her as she pulled the towel over herself a little more, strands of hair moving to cover her lower half. Her cheeks were pink. She raised her hand as if to pull down her mask but realised it wasn’t there. He reached out a clawed hand, taking hold of her jaw and turned her face towards his. She did not meet his eyes.  
“What I mean is that I cannot do this if it is just… This. Just sex. I want you so much. Believe me. But that is it. I want you, not just your body… I have… feelings,” he finished awkwardly. He shut his eyes tightly, trying in vain to stop the small trickle of tears. The silence pressed in on him. He should leave, he should-  
“I love you too, Hordak.”  
His red eyes opened with astonishment and he looked down once more into her face. She was smiling, her eyes sparkled. A strangled cry escaped his lips before she flung himself once more into his arms forcing him backwards into the bed. This time he had no resistance and they landed with a crash on the mattress.  
“You... You do?” he gasped.  
“Of course I do! Now shut up and let me take you.”  
He laughed as her hair snaked over his body unclipping his armour and tossing it aside, piece by piece, everything except his vital support pieces. They lay on their sides tangled in one another and he pushed his face against hers, eager to taste her lips once more. He ran his hands over her sides, feeling the soft skin there as she finally tugged off his underwear. He paused, embarrassed, as he felt his erection between them, resting against her stomach. He glanced down and saw that it had left a damp residue where the tip touched her. She wiped it off with her finger and placed it into her mouth, her licking it off.  
“Hmm-” she started to say but Hordak let out a growl of longing and kissed her hard. He had never been more aroused in his life. He rolled, pinning her under him. He could taste himself in her mouth. He hissed as his penis rubbed against her skin and it got, if possible, even harder.  
Entrapta reached down, and took it in her hand, running her fingers over it gently. She tightened her grip and stroked his length, ending by cupping the tip. He nearly released right there and then.  
“No,” he gasped, “I- I want to show you.”  
She raised an eyebrow in question but he didn’t answer. Instead he placed his mouth on her neck and licked upwards, allowing his fangs to drag gently on her earlobe. She quivered beneath him. Adjusting his weight he began moving his mouth down her neck, allowing his tongue to flick over her collar bones, now free of the towel. His path led him down to her breasts and he admired them before licking one of her nipples, his fingers teasing the other, earning him a gasp from her mouth. Her breath quickened and the little buds hardened.  
Closing his eyes he continued his journey downwards, leaving one hand to stimulate her nipple he trailed a line of kisses down over her soft stomach before veering off to the side. He nibbled her hip bone, careful not to bite too hard with his sharp fangs. Finally he drew in a long breath and opened his eyes to look at her properly.  
Her legs were parted slightly revealing her damp slit, clit poking out slightly like a little tongue. He gazed at it, eliciting a hiss of longing. Her hand reached down and held his face. Looking up at her he could see her cheeks were pink, eyes wide, a brief flicker of vulnerability crossed them. That was something he didn’t see very often. She studied him for a moment before briefly nodding, releasing his face.  
He let out a thin stream of air from between his lips and followed it to her sex. He flicked out his tongue and heard her gasp as he licked the length of her, ending on her clit. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair. Slowly he began teasing her with his tongue, tasting her, feeling the warmth against his face. He struck up a rhythm, following her verbal cues as her breathing quickened, small gasps escaping her lips. She squirmed beneath him.  
He felt something wrap around his wrist and he paused, glancing up. Her eyes were closed, mouth slightly parted. She had wrapped a tendril of her hair around his wrist on her breast, another taking its place on her nipple. She guided his hand down between her legs. He understood.  
Gently he slipped his fingers into her opening. He watched her face as she gasped, eyes opening and gazing at him lustily. He allowed a stupid grin to cross his face and she smiled indulgently back but raised her eyebrows, a piece of hair tapping him on the head, nudging him down.  
He returned his mouth to her and licked, timing it with his strokes inside. This time she let out a yelp and he knew that he had cracked this strange puzzle. He pushed his fingers deep within her, tongue flicking over her clit and he felt her beginning to tense, almost pushing against him. He continued, speeding up his strokes and her fist tightened in his hair as she got closer and closer. Finally she let out a gasp and tensed all over before dragging him up the bed towards her, gasping. She flung her arms around him and twitched slightly, riding out her orgasm as her breathing slowly returned to normal. She opened her eyes and they stared at him in astonishment.  
A tendril of hair appeared on his face and wiped his mouth as she grinned at him. He smiled back, holding her close, trying to ignore his own arousal. Something shifted in her eyes as she noticed it too. She glanced down at his penis and a her grin turned into a smirk. He felt something running over his entire body and he realised that she had snaked her hair over him, holding his wrists and ankles, wrapping over his arms and even his chest. She flipped him easily and landed, straddling him.  
“You don’t get to have all the fun,” she growled. He tried to move but she held him too tightly, he struggled against his bonds, gasping as she took hold of his penis. It throbbed almost painfully. She guided it to her slick entrance and lowered herself down onto it. He let out a groan, feeling himself fill her up. Her eyes widened as her body responded to his entry. She tensed then began moving slowly, grinding her hips down into his. He tried to move his hand again, to touch her but she tightened her hair on his wrist.  
“I didn’t say you could move.”  
He nearly released right there, but held on, groaning as she rode him. He watched as her hand slipped between her legs as she began to stimulate herself in time to her hips movements. He bit his lip.  
Bending forward a little, she held onto his chest with one hand, increasing her speed slightly. Pants escaped her own mouth as he moved inside of her and he felt a pressure building in him. His breath quickened and he moved his hips, thrusting up to meet her. She yelped a little as his length hit her end but she adjusted herself and carried on, her movements becoming rougher, harder.  
He was getting close. His breath coming only in gasps now as they moved together, momentum increasing. He could feel her, holding his entire body with sections of her hair. She was everywhere. He could feel himself building more and more until the pressure was too much he was about to-  
Her hand slipped between his legs and squeezed his balls gently. It was too much. He shot himself into her, letting out a yelp as he did so, a rush flaring over him. She slowed her rhythm and gently released him, recalling her hair to its bunches. He watched as she carefully dismounted, both shuddering as he slid out of her.  
He grabbed her, pulling him down to him and she laid her head on his chest, listening to his pounding heart and breathing.  
“I love you,” he gasped.  
She simply smiled.  
They held each other like that, until their breathing slowed and settled back to normal. Her fingers stroked his chest, slowly and his own found themselves buried in her hair.  
“I’ve been a fool,” he said voice cracking, “I’ve not treated you as you deserved. I’ve allowed my anger to get the better of me too often. When I thought of you on that ship, and the last things I said to you... I am sorry.”  
She paused her fingers for a second before continuing.  
“I know you are. Just don’t do it again.”  
“I won’t.”  
They were quiet for a long time before he broke the silence again.  
“Entrapta?” he whispered.  
“Hmm?”  
“I know that you are… fond of others, too. I understand. I am just glad to be included in that number.”  
She laughed softly, surprised, then squeezed him tightly.  
“I am, but you’re Hordak.”  
He twisted round and snuggled against her, she pulled him close, spooning him, smiling as his hair tickled her face. She wrapped some tendrils of her own hair around him in addition to her arm and she finally felt him relax against her.  
“How come you never told me?” he asked.  
“Told you what?”  
“That you… Also have… feelings.”  
She smiled sadly, letting out another small laugh, her breath tickling his skin.  
“Oh but I did. You just never listened.”  
He finally drifted off, feeling safe for the first time in his life.


	6. Departures

Interrogate.

“Okay, how are we going to play this?” asked Glimmer.  
“Play this?” replied Adora.  
“You know! Good cop, bad cop? Threaten him? Soothe him? Bribe him?”  
“Ohhh. Um. I was just gonna go in and ask him questions.”  
“You can’t just go in without a game plan!”  
Glimmer had skidded to a stop. They were on the way to interrogate the prisoner. ‘The way’ was taking a lot longer than anticipated thanks to the labyrinth of traps that was the Crypto Castle’s living spaces.  
“Well...” said Adora, continuing by easily hopping over a hidden button on the floor and deftly ducking under a hammer that swung out at head height, “I guess I can be bad cop?”  
“You! Bad!” snorted Glimmer, teleporting past the traps, appearing beside Adora.  
“She-Ra can be pretty intimidating...” muttered Adora, wounded.  
“I’ll be bad cop,” said Glimmer firmly.  
“You sparkle!” cried Adora.  
“Yeah, menacingly!” 

“The sparkling princess is attempting intimidation,” stated the prisoner.  
They were standing before him in the storeroom turned prison cell, the clone was sitting on a metal chair, his wrists and ankles bound loosely in front of him. Around his neck was a thin metal chain that was bolted to the wall at one end. He could feed himself, lie down, go to the bathroom, but he could not reach the door, against which Glimmer and Adora stood.  
“Just answer her question,” said Adora, glaring, “how many of you are involved in this?”  
“How many are you? We are all involved.” The clone cocked his head to one side, face expressionless.  
“Grrr!” said Glimmer, “how many other clones have you been working with since Prime was killed?”  
“Lord Prime is not dead. The princesses continue their lies.”  
“Prime is gone,” said Adora, firmly, “He’s not coming back. I saw to that.”  
“This princess is She-Ra. This princess stole Lord Prime from us.”  
“I didn’t ‘steal’ anyone,” said Adora exasperated. “Will you tell him?” she asked, turning to Glimmer.  
“Listen, clone scum, Prime is gone. We want to know how many others you were working with, and where are they now. If you cooperate, we’ll be nice. But if not...” Glimmer tensed her fists and sparkles shot out of them.  
“Tone it down a little,” muttered Adora, “we’re still the good guys, remember?”  
“Not after what he did to Kadroh.”  
“Traitor, liar Brother gave himself a name. Dead is all we call him now.”  
The clone let out a stream of giggles that did not meet his eyes, instead there burned an anger, a violent rage. He covered his mouth gently, chains clinking as he raised his wrists. Glimmer and Adora glanced at each other eyebrows raised.  
“Are you going to tell us what we want to know?” asked Adora.  
“The thief will give us back our Lord Prime! The thief will suffer. Lord Prime will show no mercy!”  
“Fine, since you wont help, I’ll tell you,” said Adora, leaning forward, eyes narrow, “Kadroh is still alive, you failed.”  
The clone’s eyes widened with shock and he let out a howl of rage. He began snarling and snapping at them, darting forward, his chain sharply jerking him back.  
Glimmer and Adora jumped backwards, out of the way, watching him in horror.  
“Lies! Not fail my Lord Prime. Traitor Brother is dead!”  
Glimmer sighed and laid her hand on Adora’s shoulder.  
“We’re not getting anything out of him.”  
She teleported them out of the room.

Use.

Hordak awoke and was unsurprised to see that Entrapta was not beside him; she did not like to linger when there was work to be done. He rose and dressed rapidly in his armour before turning and casting a critical glance around the room. They had been in it for just a few hours and it was so… messy. Shaking his head he began making the bed and set off around the room collecting up her discarded clothing. He located a washing basket and placed them within it. Next he sluiced down the bathroom, still near flooded from the night before. As he emerged he noticed a figure in the doorway, he tensed, still edgy from the events of the previous day.  
“Hordak!” cried Sodapop, looking around the room in amazement, “you should’ve moved in a long time ago, this place looks great! Are you in charge of cleaning now?”  
Hordak hissed in annoyance then, remembering his promise from the night before, reigned in his anger. A fraction at least.  
“I am not. I just… cleaned,” he replied stiffly.  
“Uh huh,” grinned Sodapop, “she’s got you on a tight leash that’s for sure!”  
“I am not-” roared Hordak, but Sodapop cut him off.  
“I’m just teasing, silly gander! I’ll leave you to it!”  
He wandered off down the corridor leaving Hordak seething. He needed something to do. Something befitting his prowess. He began pacing, hands clasped behind his back, thinking. He could not just hang around the castle like some kind of servant or… house husband. Though, he reasoned, after last night, that might have its perks… No. The work on the first ones ship was done, they’d be leaving soon no doubt, so no point in tinkering with it further. Off to fight the remnants of Horde Prime’s empire in space in that rickety old thing. He chuckled to himself, imagining it against a backdrop of the sleek Horde ships. Luckily this was more a scouting mission, but they’d need backup eventually. Backup… Etheria had nothing in the way of interspace travel bar Darla and his own wrecked ship. They’d need ways to transport troops if they were to engage with any kind of sizeable army. No one knew how much was left of the empire, it could be a handful or it could be legions. Hordak smiled to himself, lucky for Etheria, Prime had left behind a host of transport and technology. Lucky for Etheria, it now had itself a scientist who had hands on knowledge of space travel, and the technology favoured by Horde Prime. Well... two, but the second was otherwise engaged.  
Hordak pulled out his tracker pad, an old one of Entrapta’s, and began looking through it. The nearest spire was not too far from here, he could collect some tools and begin work on it immediately. 

Bow caught up to Hordak as he was pulling out of the old stables in one of the skiffs sent over from the Bright Zone. He had filled it with tools and some parts. Imp skittered over the boxes to perch on the prow. He grinned, mischievously.  
“Hey! Hordak! Where are you going?” called Bow. The old Horde leader always managed to look a little suspicious, even though Bow knew he was now on their side.  
“I am going to the nearest spire,” he replied curtly.  
“Why? Don’t you wanna know how Kadroh is?”  
“I looked in on him earlier, he appears to be stable.”  
“And why are you going to the spire?”  
Hordak sighed, he was unused to having his actions questioned.  
“I intend to make the necessary improvements to it for interspace travel. It is large enough to transport troops which you will inevitably need when going up against your enemies.”  
“But what about the ones Glimmer has in Brightmoon? She collected them all after the last battle.”  
Hordak shook his head.  
“They are small, designed for a single pilot, a robotic one at that. Organic troops would not fare well long distance in one of those. Space travel can take a long time. Even if we were to utilise Prime’s teleportation units you will still need to be prepared for ship to ship combat. Darla is not a warship, but I can make some.”  
“That’s… That’s actually a good point. I guess we were so focused on this mission, we didn’t think of what happens after.”  
“I have some experience in this field,” said Hordak.  
“That you do...” said Bow, thoughtfully. “Hey, do you mind if I come with you? Last mission in space I realised how far out of my depth I was. If it wasn’t for Entrapta fixing the ship we all would have died. I could use a teacher?”  
“A… Teacher? I am no teacher and I work alone.”  
“Alone, huh? I wonder what Entrapta would say about that?” grinned Bow.  
Hordak scowled.  
“Very well. I suppose I will have some use for an assistant.”  
“Great!” said Bow as he swung himself into the skiff beside Hordak, “the tech boy duo flies out!”  
“If you continue in this manner I will throw you into an atomic engine without a second thought,” hissed Hordak.  
“Okaaaay,” said Bow, gulping and backing away, “we’re not there yet!”

“Watch yourself! If you go in at that angle you’re at risk of cracking the pipe,” said Hordak, “it contains engine coolant and you do not want it spilling.”  
Bow was head and torso in the large engine of the spire, wrench in hand, a variety of tools lined up neatly beside him. Under Hordak’s instruction he was exploring it, carefully taking it apart and examining the components. Hordak was sitting at a table drafting up his ideas for improvements to the spire, he kept half an eye on Bows progress.  
“Okay!” said Bow, his voice echoing back at him, “this engine is so complex! I don’t know how I’m gonna remember it all.”  
“With time it will become familiar.”  
They were silent for a while, only the gentle clink of metal on metal disturbing the silence. After a while, Bow crawled out awkwardly and sat with his back to it, wiping sweat from his brow.  
“Phew! It’s hot in there.”  
Hordak didn’t reply, continuing with his design.  
“So…” said Bow, watching him, “where did you learn all this stuff?”  
“I thought you were here to assist, not hinder!”  
“Sorry! I was just wondering!” said Bow, throwing up his hands in surrender.  
Hordak paused, forcing himself to stop scowling.  
“I learnt it in the hive mind. The clones could share knowledge as well as memories and thoughts. When I came to Etheria and the link was broken I just continued to work, research and experiment. I improved.”  
“Huh,” said Bow, thoughtfully, “I guess it had its uses.”  
Hordak allowed a brief nod before turning back to his work.  
“I had to teach myself in secret. I didn’t think my dad’s would approve so I hid in my room to try stuff, or just went to Brightmoon, Glimmer didn’t mind. She’d encourage me, but I never had a teacher, or a decent source of information.”  
“It shows.”  
Hordak glanced up in time to see the hurt expression on Bow’s face.  
“That… That was unnecessary, I apologise. You could benefit from some instruction, but some of your work is… I saw your trick arrow in action yesterday, it had… Merit.”  
Bow beamed.  
“Thanks Hordak! I gotta say some of your bots were brilliant, when they weren’t trying to kill us. Not a patch on Entrapta’s but...”  
“Entrapta is a genius.”  
“She is! I’ve tried to learn from her but it’s so hard to keep up sometimes! Sometimes she’d be showing me something and I’d have no idea what she’s talking about.”  
Hordak smiled slightly.  
“But… I’ve actually learnt a lot today, from you. So thank you.”  
“Your thanks is acknowledged.”  
Bow smiled to himself as Hordak went back once again to his work.  
“So how are you getting on?” asked Bow, standing and looking over Hordak’s shoulder at the complex design. He frowned, trying to understand the diagrams but they were beyond him.  
Hordak sighed, looking them over critically.  
“I have a rough draft but I cannot begin the work without some new parts. If I was back at the Fright Zone it would be a simple matter to order them from the forge but Dryl does not have that capacity. It will take time to set up a rudimentary means of production.”  
“Why don’t you just ask Scorpia? I’m sure she’ll be happy to help!”  
“Perhaps...” mused Hordak. “I will ask Entrapta to put in a request when we return.”  
“Just call her now!” said Bow, laughing, “I’m sure she love to hear from you… Well… She wont mind,” he finished awkwardly.  
Hordak raised an eyebrow.  
“Go on!” said Bow, fumbling with his tracker pad. He pressed it a few times then thrust it into Hordak’s hands. “It’s ringing!”  
“What! No- I-”  
“Bow! Good to hear from you- er Hordak?” Scorpia’s face appeared on the screen, warm smile sliding off her face into a look of surprise.  
“Er, sorry, Sir. Er… I mean- Hello, Hordak.”  
“Force Captain. Scorpia. Greetings,” said Hordak tensely.  
“It’s nice to hear from you. Is everything alright?” she frowned with worry, “How are the others? I heard about Kadroh. Poor guy! We’ve all been so worried.”  
“They are fine. Kadroh is stable.”  
“Then… What do you need?”  
“I have need of the forge in the Fright Zone. I was wondering if I could… Commission some parts. It is to further the war effort.”  
“Well of course! We’d be happy to! Just, uh, not quite yet, see we haven’t reopened the forge just yet. We need a filter, and Entrapta promised to design us one, it’s just, it’s so beautiful here, you know. Without all the pollution. And Perfuma would kill me if anything happened to the plants. So yes. But not right now.”  
Hordak sighed.  
“I will speak with Entrapta regarding the design. If not, I am sure that I can produce something for you. It is a simple matter.”  
“Okay then! That’s great! We’re kinda keen to get it up and running too actually. We were sorta hoping that could be our, thing, you know? Plumeria has its farming and flowers, Sileneas has its fishing, Brightmoon has its- er- Well it was pretty key to the rebellion.”  
“I will make the arrangements.”  
“Well, gee, er thanks Sir! I mean Hordak, Sir!”  
“I will go now.”  
“Yep. For the best. Bye now! Bye Bow!”  
“Bye Scorpia!” called Bow as Hordak ended the call.  
He let out a long sigh of air and sat back, pushing the pad away from him.  
“See? That wasn’t so hard! You did great… buddy,” said Bow, eyeing Hordak worriedly. He pushed the pad gently back across the table to him.  
“Now just one more call and you’re done!”  
Hordak scowled, but reached a hand out to the pad, this time to call Entrapta. 

Mechanics. 

“Day 2 of Kadroh’s injury log. Subject appears to be stable, vital signs present but faint. Subject fleeting in and out of consciousness. He is accepting the administered medicine but its benefits have yet to take effect. Experiment conclusion: inconclusive. More data needed.”  
Entrapta sighed and lowered the recording device from her mouth, looking at Kadroh’s still body. He was still lying in the middle of the lab. She wouldn’t have him moved. She couldn’t best observe him in any other part of the castle. At least here, she had all her tools. She felt some comfort from them. If something went wrong- If something were to change in his condition, from here she could better intercept it. She allowed her worried eyes to rest on him for a moment before sweeping herself into a seat.  
She huddled down into it, tracker pad resting on her knees. Hordak had asked for a design for a filter that reduces the pollution caused by the foundry at the Bright Zone. A simple task. He was being kind to her, she guessed, in offering her an easy task while her mind was elsewhere. Before her, the rough design came into effect. Next she needed to know the output of the chimneys.  
As she was hacking into the old Fright Zone servers it occurred to her she could just ask Hordak for the information now, but this way was quicker and more precise. She examined the numbers. Besides, in the past, Hordak had never calculated the output of the chimneys, that was just waste, but from output levels of the foundry, she was able to calculate the amount of waste churning into the atmosphere. She was lost for a moment in the lines of numbers before her, before she remembered her goal, her number. She worked out a simple algorithm for the estimated output of the current Bright Zone, using the data of the past Fright Zone. Work complete she calculated what she needed for the filter.  
Her eyes were drawn to Kadroh. She tried not calculate his chances. She always tried her hardest to avoid equating people to numbers. People weren’t numbers. But her calculations often proved correct. The more she was around them, to higher accuracy she could predict their actions. There was often a pattern. It took her a long time to decipher, but bodies were easier. Currently Kadroh’s body was following a pattern.  
She swallowed a lump in her throat.  
She pulled her chair up closer to him, resting her head on his lower arm, eyes still looking at the diagram on her tracker pad as she added numbers here and there. The image was filling up, building in complexity. It should be easy to manufacture. She shook her head. On the next page she began designing a step by step. Not everyone found it easy to follow her designs. All the while Kadroh’s breathing weakened next to her. His arm was hot. It burned her cheek. The tiny numbers on her screen blurred, but she brushed her eyes and continued. He had everything she could give him. She had exhausted her knowledge and research. If this last batch didn’t take…  
Her hair slapped the side of her cheek. In the face of scientific discovery, nothing was concrete. She did not know how the clones’ bodies would respond to medicine. Or injury. She was on the road to discovery. Kadroh’s breath hitched and a strand of her hair lifted a damp cloth and drew it across his chest and brow, mopping away the worst of the sweating. She had been at this for hours, adjusting his medicine, his temperature. She nuzzled into him, manipulating the lines on her screen. The numbers. The invention. For all she could do, she could not-  
A thought she knowingly wouldn’t finish. Despite all the thoughts she ever had, chased to their bitter ends. Often disappointing, but always leading to further discovery. This. This was a thought she’d rather not hear the end of. The experiment she didn’t want to end. He trembled beneath her cheek. Her hair wrapped slowly around him, holding him tightly, she cradled him. She began humming, a tuneless song. Maybe he could hear. Maybe it helped. She was close to certain that he couldn’t hear. But she was certain that it helped her. She hummed, eyes spilling over. His white arm trembling.  
She held her Kadroh close.  
A voice from the doorway interrupted her thoughts.  
“Hey, Entrapta, I’m here to, like, take over watch or something,” said Catra gently, “hey, are you okay?”  
She softly approached.  
“Should he look like that?” she asked doubtfully.  
Entrapta shook her head, not turning.  
“Should I get someone?” asked Catra, her voice sounded strange to Entrapta, not her usual sharp tones.  
“There’s no one left to get.”  
Her voice was so small that Catra, despite her sharp hearing, barley caught it.  
“But I thought you fixed him! You fix everything...”  
“Sometimes people are like machines. When they break you can but their pieces back together. With machines that usually works. With people it… doesn't always. I can’t fix him,” said Entrapta softly. She still hadn’t turned.  
“Well you’re wrong.”  
Catra strode over and spun Entrapta around.  
“You’re wrong to give up, this time it’s not just you trying. Adora, She-Ra, fixed me on Horde Prime’s ship. I shouldn’t be here but I am. We haven’t tried everything yet.”  
Catra smiled at Entapta.  
“Wait here.”  
She streaked out of the room.  
“Magic…” whispered Entrapta. She tried to quell the hope bubbling in her chest. Of all of the options why had she not considered…  
A scraping from the door jarred her from her thoughts as Catra dragged Adora into the room.  
“He’s not good,” said Catra, breathlessly, “do it. Do your She-Ra thing.”  
“I-I can’t just switch it on and off… I don’t know if I can,” said Adora, staring wide eyed at Kadroh on the table.  
Entrapta crept towards her.  
“Please. Please try. I’ve just got him… And I... don’t want to not have him,” said Entrapta, trying desperately to portray her meaning in her words. Adora stared at her, and then at Kadroh, faltering, before steeling herself.  
She moved toward the table, raising her hand, sword appearing within it. Her eyes glowed blue. Light projected from her body. She tensed, grunting with exertion.  
Slowly Kadroh began to glow too. His chest, rose and fell, sweat dripping from him. He gasped and shook.  
There was a blinding light as Adora transformed into She-Ra. She grew, muscles bulging. Her hair lengthened, shimmering, her clothes smoothly transitioned. Finally, she smiled calmly and bent forward, laying her hand on Kadroh’s torso. He shook and black sludge leaked from the scar in his chest, pooling beside him on the table. He drew in air, finally his chest expanding to its fullest, before settling back, infection leaving his body.  
She-Ra stepped back, away from him, she smiled at Entrapta then at Catra and pulled them towards her in a hug. Kadroh’s eyes opened, clear. He smiled.  
“Magic...” whispered Entrapta. 

Onwards.

From the unused dining room of the Crypto Castle, Glimmer had called a meeting. The grim, dusty room provided a suitable backdrop for her mood. Seated around the table were herself, Bow, Adora, Catra, Entrapta and Hordak. Around them the shimmering holographic replicas of their friends slowly appeared; Scorpia, Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta, Netossa, Spinerella and Micah. When everyone had gathered, Glimmer spoke.  
“I call this meeting today to discuss the events of yesterday. As you all know Entrapta and Kadroh were kidnapped by a small group of clones resulting in Kadroh becoming badly injured. Between Entrapta and She-Ra’s quick work he will be fine in time, currently he is resting and healing. This should not have happened. We have all been letting our guard down, and that’s something I’d like to rectify.”  
She paused and looked around the room at the other princesses. Her face was serious.  
“Adora, Catra and I have been back to the ship, we found the bodies of three clones.”  
There was a sharp intake of breath from around the room.  
“We are holding the perpetrator in Dryl, earlier, Adora and I questioned him. He was uncooperative and unrepentant. At this point we’re unsure if this group was working alone or were part of a larger outfit. He seems to believe that She-Ra is holding Primes consciousness, their aim was to get it back and restore him to a body.”  
“But they saw him die!” said Frosta furiously. “We all did.”  
“Maybe clones are like, really dumb,” said Mermista.  
Hordak hissed and Mermista scowled over at him.  
“She doesn’t mean you, I’m sure,” whispered Entrapta, patting his arm. Mermista rolled her eyes.  
“What’s he doing here anyway? I thought this was supposed to be a Princess Alliance meeting?”  
“He was instrumental in rescuing Entrapta and Kadroh, and I thought he could offer some insight into the prisoner and the motives of the clones,” replied Glimmer.  
“Couldn’t we just, ask him after? Does he have to actually be here?” said Mermista, Netossa nodded, raising her eyebrows.  
“I think what Mermista is trying to say is that it would have been nice if you consulted us before inviting… Hordak to a Princess Alliance meeting,” said Perfuma.  
“Yeah. A known enemy...” growled Netossa.  
“I understand your concern, and I respect that,” said Glimmer, levelly, “but in this instance, Hordak’s involvement and expertise is to our advantage. I believe we’d be a fool to exclude him. But… Your concerns are valid, and he wont be invited to further meetings until there is a consensus.”  
Mermista and Netossa looked at one another then nodded, turning back to Glimmer.  
“Okay,” said Netossa, “he can stay for this.”  
“Okay...” said Glimmer, leaning back a little in her chair. “So I’ve been debating on what our next step should be. Clearly we have a problem on Etheria. I’m proposing we postpone our trip to meet with the Star Siblings and the other rebels until we know that Etheria is safe-”  
“But spaaaace!” cried Entrapta, eyes pleadingly wide.  
“We need to ensure our own home is safe before we can do the same for anyone else,” sighed Glimmer, addressing Entrapta. Her face fell.  
“I’m… Not so sure,” interjected Adora, “while the situation with the clones is worrying, we promised our help to everyone. And I’m pretty sure they need us. I don’t think we should postpone.”  
“Adora’s right,” said Mermista, “you guys are needed out there, but here… You don’t think we can handle this?”  
“Yeah!” said Frosta, “I’m ready to kick some butt again!” She stood up on her chair, conjuring spikes of frost over her arms and shoulders, turning her fists to ice.  
“Actually,” smiled Micah, “Frosta, Mermista and I have been developing something that may be of use here.”  
Frosta grinned and sat down, the rest of the room turned to them.  
“Well I guess Micah helped...” smirked Mermista.  
“We’ve had an idea for clones like the current prisoner. We guessed not all might be so quick to join our society, and we wanted a fallback. We didn’t just want to fill the prisons,” continued Micah.  
“So we thought of a way to make use of them, give them a chance I guess,” said Mermista taking over. “They’d be put to work, rebuilding, kept an eye on. Micah can put tracing spells on them so we know where they are.”  
“If they are willing to make changes with us,” smiled Micah, “we’re willing to offer them good places in Brightmoon, The Kingdom of Snows or Sileneas. But first maybe they need an adjustment period. We need to show them that they can be with us, that there is another way. They can demonstrate that by helping, under observation...”  
“And if they don’t, then they can enjoy a stint in the dungeons in the Kingdom of Snows,” said Frosta, eyes glittering.  
Glimmer raised her eyebrows, surprised.  
“You’re all willing to put in the work? It won’t be easy...”  
“We are,” said Micah, firmly.  
“And I can use the help in Sileneas,” said Mermista.  
“Do you think it’ll work?” asked Glimmer turning to Hordak, who looked immensely surprised to be addressed. He gaped, then closed his mouth to ponder.  
“It could… Prior the clones have been accustomed to a firm leadership. They could benefit from this programme. The problem lies in finding those whose affections still lie with Horde Prime. Most will be open though I do not doubt that some may have learnt to hide their adoration in order to further their cause.”  
“We can look for them,” said Scorpia, speaking up, nervously, “while you guys are gone. You’re not leaving Etheria unprotected. I’m just muscle really… But, now I’ve got a kingdom of my own now, and they’re behind me.”  
“As is Plumeria,” smiled Perfuma, smiling immediately at Scorpia.  
“Yeah, yeah, all of us too, now let’s catch ‘em! Leave it with us Glimmer, and get yourself to space!” roared Frosta.  
“Can we?” begged Entrapta.  
“Are you sure?” worried Glimmer.  
“Oh please, they’re small fry after Prime, quit worrying, you’ve got the bigger challenge,” smirked Mermista.  
“Okay then! It’s settled, Adora, Bow, Catra, Entrapta and I will leave within the next few days. We can check in with each other as often as we need,” smiled Glimmer.  
“And Hordak! He’s coming too!” said Entrapta, indignant.  
Glimmer hesitated, glancing at Adora and Bow. They shrugged, Bow nodding slightly.  
“Well… I suppose he can… It would mean we could keep an eye on him...” said Adora slowly, “though I don’t know how our enemies will react, or our allies…”  
“You need not worry yourselves over that matter,” cut in Hordak, “I intend to stay on Etheria.”  
Entrapta glanced at him, a hurt look on her face before turning away. He spoke mostly to the room but kept glancing frequently at Entrapta, trying to gauge her mood.  
“Although I long to return to the stars, perhaps revisit old worlds, be close to my… friends. It makes strategic sense for me to remain in Dryl or at least on Etheria. I do not assume to know where you will be happy to keep me. However I have begun some vital work in the war effort. I intend to create an armada of ships for Etheria, ready for the time when you will need them.”  
He turned to Glimmer.  
“And, my Queen, you will need them. If there is even an eighth of Horde Primes forces remaining out there you will be in need of an army of your own.”  
“You’d do that? For us?” said Glimmer, surprised.  
“Oh yeah… ‘cos that’s safe,” muttered Netossa.  
“I will,” said Hordak, glancing at Netossa, “this is how I can be of use. Building is my forte, I am familiar with space travel, and Prime’s technology. I will leave the army building to others better suited… Place me under observation if you will, I will not object. But please understand… My loyalties lie here, with this planets people.”  
His eyes flicked to Entrapta. She looked at him sadly, but nodded. His ears lowered and he looked down at his lap.  
“You and Imp can stay here,” she said sadly, “you’re always welcome in Dryl.”  
“Maybe… Maybe the kitchen staff can keep an eye on them?” asked Bow, “they are proven rebellion fighters. That way Hordak still has access to the lab. I worked with him today. I think he’s onto something. Also he can help Kadroh until he’s back on his feet.”  
Glimmer nodded.  
“It’s settled then. We all know what we need to do. Find those rouge clones. I trust you guys. In the meantime, we head to space, to see what the rest have in store for us...”  
Around the circle, everyone slowly nodded. 

Leaving.

“Ohhh Bow,” said Glimmer, holding him close, his strong arms snaked around her. “I messed up. I messed up in the meeting, I messed up here on Etheria. I should’ve been more watchful. I let my guard down. This is my fault. All my fault.”  
Her eyes filled with tears and he looked down at her with his own soft eyes.  
“You didn’t mess up at all. Also, you’re not at fault Glimmer, how could you have known? None of us expected this. But we’re making it right now.”  
He pulled her close to his body and she burrowed her face in his chest. His hand found its way to the back of her head and he stroked her hair.  
“Don’t worry Glimmer. We’re not losing anyone. We’re putting it right.”  
“I know,” she replied, voice muffled in his clothing, “I just don’t like that it needed it to be made right.”  
“We’re doing all that we can. You can’t expect perfection from yourself. None of us can.”  
She squeezed him tightly.  
“Bow, you’re the best.”  
He smiled into her hair.

Micah, Frosta and Mermista talked, each a holographic image to the other, each in their separate kingdoms.  
“Well, that went quite well! We got permission to launch our programme,” said Micah, happily.  
“Permission to kick butt you mean!” howled Frosta.  
“How does it feel having to get permission from your own daughter?” asked Mermista, smirking.  
“It feels good to have a daughter that is such a strong and competent ruler. We start tomorrow?”  
“Yeah,” said Mermista, “we assemble a team, scour the lands, round up the troublemakers and but ‘em to work!”  
“Or make ‘em pay!” yelled Frosta.  
“Or ‘make ‘em’ help!” chimed in Micah.  
“Yeah, Micah...” smirked Mermista.  
Frosta rolled her eyes.  
“Well he’s not doing the talking...”

“Entrapta, will you look at me? I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt you.”  
She looked up from her tinkering on Emily, who blooped.  
“I know, Hordak. And you’re right. It is the most logical decision. I am best placed on Darla, and you on building the new space ships. Though, please, send me your notes, I’d love to hear them… To clarify, I’m not angry, I’m just sad.”  
“I am… Also sad.”  
She continued her tinkering but more slowly. He stepped around the bot and placed his hand on her shoulder, hesitantly.  
“If only we had more time, Entrapta. For the moment, it is not kind to us.”  
She froze for a second, hand creeping up towards her mask, before she stopped it, and smiled at him.  
“Help me with Emily?”  
He smiled, sitting beside her, looking at the bot.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Well, her balance is off sometimes to I’m trying to adjust her bearings…”  
They sat, side by side, tools scattered around them, bathed in the glow of electronic light.

“You ready for another then?” grinned Catra.  
“Only if you’re with me,” said Adora without thinking, she hesitated, awkwardly.  
“Aw, look at that. You like me.”  
They curled together, on their bed.  
“I’m just...” Adora smiled, looking into Catra’s mismatched eyes, “Just happy. I think we’ll be good up there.”  
“I’ll be good. You can get my back though,” smirked Catra.  
“Always.”  
Catra smiled, despite herself. She flicked her tail so it rested across Adora.  
Adora propped her forehead on Catra’s. She nuzzled gently.  
“I’m just so...”  
“So?” asked Catra.  
“Happy. Just you,” smiled Adora, and she lent forward, touching her lips to Catra’s. 

Launch.

They gathered at Darla’s feet; Adora, Catra, Bow, Glimmer, Entrapta, Hordak, Kadroh, Emily, and Imp. It was a small, sad, send off party. Kadroh held himself carefully in his wheelchair, Hordak standing gently to his side, a clawed hand placed protectively on the back of it. Emily and Imp blooped and skittered around each other, rolling around the square.  
“Well, goodbye, we’ll keep in touch, and thank you Hordak,” said Glimmer, stepping onto the ramp. Bow nodded.  
“Thank you, for all you’ve taught me. And you know I’ll be back… Teacher...” grinned Bow.  
Hordak hissed, but gently, he allowed a small smile to play across his lips. He bowed his head.  
“If Entrapta is… Indisposed, you may call upon me.”  
“I’ll see you soon buddy!”  
“‘Buddy’, you push your luck.” Hordak scowled, but his lips twitched at Bow entered the ship.  
“Thanks, Hordak, we’ll see you soon,” said Adora, holding his eyes for a moment. Catra nodded toward him. They retreated into the ship.  
Finally it was just Entrapta, Hordak, Emily, Imp and Kadroh.  
Entrapta approached Kadroh and held him to her carefully.  
“I’ll be back for you,” she whispered.  
He leaned into her, placing his arms firmly around her.  
“You will. I’ll do you proud.”  
She smiled and she tentatively kissed the top of his head. Turning to Hordak she sighed and smiled.  
He watched her, his eyes careful.  
“Goodbye Hordak.”  
“Goodbye, Entrapta.”  
He bowed his head.  
Suddenly he felt tight arms and hair around him.  
He closed his arms around her firmly. Holding her as close as he dared.  
They parted slightly and looked at each other.  
She held pulled off one of her gloves and held his face with her bare hand. His red eyes glowed sadly.  
They turned and parted.

“Soooo! Space squad launches!” smiled Bow as the ground descended around them. They all watched silently as their planet diminished. It shrunk, the towns they new so well shrinking to the size of toys. The people they knew indecipherable. They rose, the world falling away outside of the windows. It shrunk, smaller and smaller until all they could see was blurs of green and blue. The night blackened around them as the vastness of space swallowed the tiny ship. It shot off into the gloom. Its occupants were hopeful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies this one took longer than usual to come out, blame life getting in the way!  
> This chapter marks the end of part one, in part two we'll finally get to go to space with the gang. Get set for adventure!  
> Thanks for giving it a chance, I really hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for the kudos and comments, it's nice to know others don't mind my daydreams.


End file.
